= shack, ee We ee The Year's Most Exciting Novell Tn tho opie prequel to hack, the avatar Te ances ore irae eerie ee ee Peer aa roa niere eae a irteeerariaede rere terenecer Se ae a a eee ee Re oe eer ee eet Ls Ce ee ee eee Tg cone ee et ect a aes crgin of the super popular anime and mange (ranchise Be end eeeeoreanesain ea ry eee ee en SO ee eer Beretta 7) “An instantly discernable and absorbing eyber-eality poe ee eet nea aes econ aed vm lil ehack// Al buster. ‘Story: Tatsuya Hamazakl/ lustrations : Rel zum oO “The adventure and intrigue in these pages make Al buster just as addictive as playing the .hack series on the PS2.” —Evan Narcisse, Teen PeopleTatsuya Hamazaki ® hy ac ik Tatsuya Hamazaki is the writer of several Gundam // Al buster manga, as well as the author of many different novelizations. Story by Tatsuya Hamazaki Illustrated by Rei Izumi “OTOKVOPOR-hack//Al buster Story by Tatsuya Hamazaki Illustrated by Rei zumi Transition - Naomi Kokubo Engish Adaptation - Stormerow Hayes Copy Ector - Abigail Pips Prootteador - Wendy Hunter Design and Layout - James Lee ‘Cover Design - Christan Lownds Eeitor- Nicole Monastrsky Digltal imaging Manager - Chris Buford Production Managers - Jennifer Miler and Mutsumi Miyazaki Art Director Matt Alford ‘Managing Edtor - Jil Freshney VP of Production - Ron Kiamert Publisher and E10. - Mike Kiley President and €.0.0.- Jotn Parker (CEO. Stuart Levy 6 OTORVOPER ton: “ToRVOPOP ne. 5900 wise Bl, ute 2000, Ln angeles, cA 80098 mal ifo@TOKYOPOP com Come Ws us olin at nen TOKYOPOP com ak ts © Taya Hamar 202. As sono. Mo parton of book may bt Fi tad dean nb by eproaued or aaron ary omy ay rs ‘apo SAOTENABLSHNG CO, LD, Toya. wat wt prema Km he apt ae, gi andton ts aranged wis Ts ois wok eo Ayreon aooKan SHOTEN FUELING COD, Tome ac eens bles aor, ia oa ‘von TUTLE-MOR AGEN, op. ene eee ms et apr © 005 TORGPOP ISBN: 1-59532-869-6 Ft TOAYOP® prt: apt 208, wosTes4s21 Pre n te US 005 Area.0 Navel of Lal ‘Area. Tacit Ruins @ 021 Town Mac + Anu @ 039 Real Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd. @ 108 Area.2 Bad Angel @ 128 Area.3 Alchemy @ 163, Area.4 Memory @ 181 Area.* @ 219 Postscript @ 231Area.0 Navel of LakesI plugged in, I fele che hair stand up on the back of my neck as a brief surge of excitement bristled down my spine, It lasted ‘only a millisecond as my consciousness leape from my real body into my avatar. I scanned my sueroundings. Ie the firse thing I do whenever I jump into The World. ‘A (Delta) Server Zone: Hidden, Forbidden, Sacred Iwas in what looked like an old gothic stone church, A. ony service hall stzetched before me, its ceiling cross vaulted, ‘The marble floor had a geeenish tine with a diamond- shaped pattern, A pendulum swung back and forth markingoff time, Looking around, I noticed three other pendulums forming a perfect square. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Whoever designed the area spent a lot of time pro- gramming an exceptional level of detail for this part of The ‘World—an area of cyberspace with over fifteen million registered players speaking ten different languages. But since none of those registered users were allowed here in the Sacred Zones, why would someone spend so much time dlesigning this level of detail? There were a few flaws, however, There was no obvious light source, but chat was the advantage of cyberspace. The rules could be bent. Of course, they could be bent to your advantage or disadvantage. stood before a railing thac was only waist high. Beyond the railing was the church's alear. I wanted to study the altar's detail more closely, but couldsit, In reality, it would be easy to climb over the railing, but that wasnt allowed here—just cone of the many cyber “cules” dictating chat the programmer is God and the laws of physics are code, The four pendulums swung in perfect unison, shack/el_buster//é O_navel_of_lake//8// Area.O Navel of Lake Tick-tock Ie reminded me I didnit come here to sightsee. I had usiness to attend to and I was sure my soldiers, at least those who were real, were growing impatient, I quickly moved down the service hall where I found the members of the Cobale Knights waiting for me. They were stationed at each of the building’s four sits, creating a blockade. Each knight wore plate mail and vas armed with a long, sharpened spear, It was standard material, reminiscent of medieval Europe and common to ‘nost Role-Playing Games, or RPGs, One of the Knights stepped forward. “We've been ‘expecting you, Captain” "Do you have the NPC?" I asked. NPC stands for Non-Player Character, in other words, the background people such as merchants, innkeepers, barmaid, etc. They jue computer-controlled avatars who are necessary for the ‘world to seem real. Occasionally, one formed alittle too much consciousness and no longer acted within its programmed, parameters. That's when I was called in. “We've sealed off all escape. She’ trapped.” shack//al_buster//aree.0_navel_of_jake//9//ehack // Al buster I moved closer to find the object of my mission, Even though Td been briefed on the target before menacing knights more than twice her size, stood a little gitl. She looked to be around twelve or thirteen and was dressed entirely in red. Even her platinum-blond hair had red streaks running through it. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, and I noticed she wasn’t wearing any. shoes. “Youre sure it's her?” I asked. “Absolutely. She matches the description and she_ doesn't appear to be a cheat.” Cheats are modified characters who break the laws of the game. An example of a cheat might be someone who always hits whatever they swing at, even when the game mechanics would diccate a miss. “What should we do, Captain?” She turned coward me, her eyes wide and innocent. At the same time, her expression betrayed her realization: she was caught in a web she coulda escape. check//al_buster//area.0_navel_of Jake//10// arrived, I was taken aback when I saw her, Standing — in che center of the room, surrounded on all sides by _ Area.O Navel of Lake "Are you going to delete me?” Her voice was as sweet ul innocent as her face. 1 ignored her, we you shielded the area?” Yes, Both gate-in and gate-out functions from the ae disabled,” reported the knight. hat about regular players?” I asked, checking up on ther held vead the area specs. "None in this area, We've confirmed that.” "Good. You've done your job well.” aos € "Are you going to delete me?” she repeated. T cured yy ancl adclressed the knights in a loud voice. “According to regulations, this NPC is recognized sn irregular Non-Player Character that is not in the ification of the Japanese version of The World.” Ie was jargon for “prepare to attack.” With a sudden clang, the knights lowered their spears ‘stepped forward. They moved in perfect unison. | Twitched to debug mode, which is only available to 1m aclministeators, and urged my knights forward. "Are you going to delete me?” she asked, trying not ob. -hack//al_buster//ares.0_navel.of leke//11//ehack // Al buster “Dont pretend to be human. You wor't fool me with your girlish charm. Youke a Vagrant AI and you'll get what yyou deserve.” “Tm what?” “You garbage! Bad code. Damaged daca, The Cobalt Knights correct mistakes like you.” Her dress fluttered in slow motion, something, that could only happen in movies or eyberspace. “T'm a flue,” she whispered. “Delete her!" Instantly, two knights stepped forward and launched an attack. A blinding flash of white light shot forth from their spears, When it dissipated, the git] was impaled. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Listened to the penculums swing in the backgrosnd, The git!’ body faded and disappeared after a few seconds, One of the knights reported: “Subject ‘delete’ completed.” “Good” I nodded and approached the two knights who blocked the front entrance of the church, One of them was a new recruit to the Cobalt Knights. This was his first assignment, shack//al_buster//er navel.of_laka//12// Area.O Navel of Lake “You did wel, recruit” “Thanks. What kind of area is this, anyway “Youite in the Zone: Hidden, Forbidden, Sacred." “How come there aren’t any monsters or treasure? here's hardly anything!” “Tes a Sacred Zone, Ie’ different from the other areas of The World.” "Yeaho” “Have you heatal of Fpiteph of the Twilight” I asked the recruit: “Uh, yeah, I think so, Isn'e that the novel that The World is based on?” “Yes. It used to be found on a German home page several years ago—before the Pluto Kiss" “What do you mean... used to bi “eno longer exists. But the story begins with a scene set in this area, the ‘Navel of Lake! " “Navel of Lake?” “That's the name of this area, Didnt you do your homework?” “Uh. shack//el_buster//area.0_nevel_ot_leke//13//ehack // Al buster Area.O Navel of Lake “You were supposed to read the atea specs before you logged in. You were supposed to have everything memorized, What the hells wrong with you?” “Oh yeah, I read it!” He wasn't convincing, “And ...2” “Well, in the old version of The World, it words, but the name of the area done in three leters, right?” asi three “Youre half right, but not making any sense. Next time, try paying attention to your assignment. Until chen, TIl give you a short history lesson” I sighed. Recruits, “Instead of selecting three words to enter an area like we do now, we used to select three letters to enter an area, This is back in the old version of The World as well as in the beta version, called Fragment, neither of which was ever released.” The recruit nodded. “Now we refer to this area as a Hidden, Forbidden, and Sacred Zone, But it used to be called Navel of Lake.” The recruit shook his head slowly. He looked around the church, taking in the details as I first had. None of the background objects were recycled or repeated as is so often shack//el_buster//ares.0_navel_of lake//14// clone to save time. Instead, every detail was carefully chosen snd mapped in 3-D. I wondered how many CG artists had been hired to render the image of the church alone before the atea was completed, For commercial game software this Was extravagant, “With so much complexity this place must be important sat—and I admit I didn't read to winning the game, right? thae carefully —what event takes place here?” “Nothing” “Nothing?” “Nothing. This atea doesn't even allow monsters to appear. There are no hidden dungeons, secret passages, no traps to disarm nor treasures to discover. Nothing happens here’? “Then why waste so much time creating ie” “Apparently, there used to be events here.” “In which version?" “Beta, Buc it wasn't anything important It had nothing co do with winning the game." T heard some of the other knights mutter chat they never heard of that before. Suddenly, I realized T was theehack // Al buster Area.O Navel of Lake only one present who had played the older versions. Was I really that old? “Ghost of the church,” I announced. “Huh?” “When Fragment was online, there was a rumor among the play testers that a ghost appeared inside the church.” “You mean a ghost character?” “Apparently, it looked like a man in his thirties Obviously, we don't know what the operator looked like in real life, but that’s how the avatar appeared, His face was gaunt, with green eyes, and he had wild, wavy white hair, It was rumored that he always appeared upside down.” “Say what?” I shrugged, “So what did the ghost do?” “Nothing. That’ the strange part. He just appeared in this church, He didn't say anything, do anything, and no spells or attacks seemed to affect hitm.” “Huh?” “es all speculation.” sheck//al_buster//erea.0_navel_of leke//16// “You mean a rumor.” “That's what I said. After the beta test was completed and the final version of The World was released, the ghost of the church was no more!” “Was it a glitch?” T breathed deeply. Didnt chey teach these recruits any history? Maybe today they focused more on theory and code, I was about to continue when I saw something move in the lower corner of my perspective. Instinctively, I followed the movement, I couldnt believe what I saw. Te was the girl Her image was reflected on the smooth, polished surface of the floor. She was floating above us, near the ceiling, Somehow, sheid escaped being deleted. But how was that possible? “She's above us!” I shouted. The knights, not expecting danger, were slow to react. She wasn't. She headed for the door “Cover the door,” I ordered. “Coverall the exits!” How could she fly? Unless there were staircases or ladders, characters weren't allowed to move up or down on Jnack//al_puster//eres.0_navel_of lake//17//ehack // Al buster the simulated 3-D map. Flying was against the rules of the game, but that didn't seem to stop her from defying the game's gravity. The knights were reacting too slowly. She was going to escape. I only had one chance. I placed my atget over her and toggled the debug command, Luckily, she was still in range. I swung my spear There was the familiar bright lash of white light that enveloped the girl, And then Static spilled into my ears with a deafening roar. The game image impossibly scattered and melted. As the gitl disintegrated into the white flash, insteacl of disappearing, she transformed into a ball of red light. It wasnit possible. T had landed a direct hit, but she wasnie deleted. “Stop her!" I eried out. Bue i was too late. 1 watched helplessly as the ball of ted light sped past the knights like a bullet from a gun and shot through the open door of the church, I chased after her, but compared to her lightning-fast speed, it seemed to take me forever to get t0 the doorway. hhack//el_buster/arsa.0_navel_of lake//18// Area.O Navel of Lake ‘When I attived, I ried to target her, but she was too fas, too far away. I watched as she streaked across the sky. The church was on an island in the middle of a lake The strip of red light shot straight up into the twilit sky, and chen erupted like a burst of summer fireworks, ‘A shower of red sparks sprinkled across the sky as I muttered in disbelief; “She's gone!" Behind me, I heard the pendulums swing. Tick-tock, tick-tock shack//al_buster//erea.0_navel_of 1ake//19//1 threw an axe into a small spring that emerged from the withered wasteland, ‘An impish demon with oversized water drops for its eyes and nose popped out of the water like a jack-in-the-box. “Did you drop a golden axe?” asked the spring demon, sounding bored, “Os this silver axe?" A system window popped up on my screen, displaying the three answers I could select: Gold Axe, Silver Axe, or Neither. Thit: Neither “Whaat? Neither of them?” The spring demon sounded troubled by this answer. “Hmmm . .. then take this!”AA sound effect chimed and the spring demon whooshed high into the air and then disappeared back into the spring with a great splash, A message display indicated that I had obtained a new axe. This one was more powerful than the axe T had just tossed in. Even though I had plenty of weapons I still enjoyed seeing the spring demon perform his magic show, No matter what you tossed into the spring, he had to give you back: something mote powerful. 1 checked the game screen again, this time to see where Twas. A map displayed itself in the upper tight corner of my perspective. An arrow marked my direction, I turned toward the dungeon’s entrance and ran across the wasteland as fast as T could. ‘A (Lambda) Server Zone: Dark, Inaccessible, Ruins I activated my Faity’s Orb, a device that reveals and dlisplays areas that have never been searched, A message popped sheok//al_buster//area.1_taclt ruins//24// Area.1 Tacit Ruins up saying chat a fairy was investigating. A moment later, che clangeor's hidden floos-map appeared in thorough detail, Twas a classic 3-D dungeon with rooms and passages extending four levels below ground. Special markers indicated treasures and hidden monsters, “It looks pretty large,” I muttered to myself, Fortunately, I had a few cheats on my side. In this case, I entered the dungeon from the field and slipped straight clown to the fourth level. This way, I didn't have to bother fighting every creature on levels one through three, I quickly memorized the map and moved forward. Spooky background music filled my ears as T entered, The dungeon resembled a demons’ underground palace complete with stone walls that glowed zed, Suspended above the passageway was the corpse of a dead prisoner lying in what looked like a giant birdeage. His dried flesh clung to his bones, I targeted it for information, but it was out of range, ignored it and moved on. There is a difference between something that can be targeted (like an object or creature that you can interact, sheck//al_buster//ares.1_tacit_ruine//26//shack // Al buster Area.1 Tacit Ruins with), and background imagery, which is only chete to lend atmosphere and cant be picked up, moved, or altered in any vay, no matter how much you hack a it. Sometimes coors are juse decorations that lead nowhere and have nothing behind them, Windows might give you a view, but you cant break the glass or jump through them, In other words, anything that cant be targeted is meaningless eye candy, However, the next door could be targeted, so I opened it. Even though The World responds co voice chae from the internal microphone on my Face Mount Display (FMD), sometimes ics easier to key a door open than to speak the command, Upon entering, I encountered my first creatures: three undead headless knights attacking with theit swords in one hand, their skulls in the other. Pretey standard dungeon fare, ‘Their feet seraped harshly against the ground as they charged forward. I targeted the closest one and attacked, ‘A clean slice sent the creature's stamina gauge ftom green to red, indicating he was nearly dead. Another swing sent a barrage of armor and bones clanging against che walls. sheck//el_buster//area.1_tacit ruins//26// The battle ended in seconds. These creatures were no challenge at my current level A dlinking sound indicated that the last one had a blue treasure chest, which meant ic was trapped. Using the item command, I selected my Fortune Wire that auto- matically removed the trap. Targeting the chest with ie, I opened the box. I was rewarded with another Fortune Wire, That's 2/1 hadnie gained anything, which wasn't new but was still disappointing. Hopeidly,they'l correct this when they fis th net upgrade, 1 checked the map. Every corridor and room was infested with monsters, Hon? Where should Igo next? Somewhere behind me, I heard a faint sound, Poorsteps, Spinning around, I turned back toward the direction from where I came, Had I missed a monster? While in the darkness, I tried to target anything, I was surprised by what I had found: a little girl dressed completely in red without any shoes. Hard to believe such shack//al_buster//area.1_taclt rulne//27//ehack // Al buster Area.1 Tacit Ruins a sweet image could exist in chis nest of devils and demons, But there she was . . . alone, moving toward me with her! head down, j “Huh?” she mattered as she collided into my character. ‘The girl stepped backward and noticed me for the first time. She appeared frightened as she hesitantly raised her hand and moved it toward my chest. Her actions were too rich and natural for her to be just another player, Was she an event character? lowered my perspective and zoomed in on her face. Her skin was like snow. If I looked closely, 1 could clearly make out each eyelash, Her eyelids were closed. Was she blind? Perhaps that was why she hada seen me, A chat window opened at the bottom of my perspective and che following text appeared Lycoris: Help me. -hack//al_buster//area.1_taclt_ruins//28// December 24, 2005. Every human being who's ever sat in front of a computer ora television knows this date. Ie was che day the Internet cvisis occurred: the day the Pluto Kiss virus was launched, Go ahead. Do a word search on Pluto Kiss and see what you find, OF course, millions of other people are probably searching for the information at the exact same time, so you may have some difficulties. give you a summary: The Plito Kiss tangled up and shut down the entire Internet. Powerful stuff, ch? In response to the astronomical damages the virus caused, the United Nations, along with the World Network Council WNO), ordered a limitation on Inteenet use until a solution could be found. The emerging net culture that had blossomed atthe end of the twentieth cencury sucenly ground to a halt. Suripped of the Internet during this crisis, people referred to this era as the Twilight of the New Gods. Of course, the Gods they worshipped were the Gods of technology. Tt took two years before ALTIMIT OS proved to be completely resistant against the virus and a reliable service. shack//ai_buster//area.1_tacit_ruins//20//shack // Al buster During that time, a new Internet system was built and che question of corporate management and responsibility was determined, December 24, 2007, the anniversary of the virus, became known as The Mother Mary's Kiss, It was the day the WNC announced their Network Security Declaration that ended the Twilight. Limitations were removed and che Internet became available to everyone once more. ‘That same day, CyberConnect Corporation (CC Corp.) released The World. Te was called a Massive Multiplayer Online Role- Playing Game (MMORPG) and was the first online role-playing game allowing large numbers of simultaneous players to coexist in the same world. By the end of the first day, the game had been downloaded 4,576,623 times, By the end of the year (only a week later), that figure had nearly doubled Tt was the big bang of the new Internet world, -hack/el_buster//erea.1_tacit_ruine//30// Area.1 Tacit Ruins Lwcoris: Hele me. There was no voice to go with the text. Thad to assume she was an NPC giving out her scripted message. Lucorist T want sou to hele me. Lycoris. T guessed that was her name. I enabled the Voice chat “What's wrong? Ate you okay?” There was a short time lag, maybe half a second, before iny spoken words were converted to text by my EMD and appeared on the lower edge of my perspective fikirest What's wrona? Are vou olay? That was the beauty of voice chat. Gone were the days of typing. Lycoris: Hele me. I need vou to hele me. Albireot lihat horrened? Lycorist Please take me to the Divine Statue Room. The chat window scrolled down as the conversation unfolded, fibireos Whe? Lecoris: I can't see. -hack//al_buster//ares.1_tactt_ruine//31//ehack // Al buster Area.1 Tacit Ruins T don't know why I had bothered conversing with her She is an NPC. Everything she said is a pre-programmed, response to player queries. But that’s what role-playing in The World is all about—the illusion of reality in a make- believe world. Voice chat is simply another function to create | a stronger illusion, But I could have said anything and she would have given me the exact programmed response, Just the same, I stayed in the conversation, “Okay, Lycoris” [said into my microphone. “All Thave to do is take you to the Divine Statue Room, right?” That was so easy I didivt even need to think about it After all, asking for assistance in a quest is a familiar gaming adventure, Usually, if you run into a PC (another person running an avatar), you can make verbal contact by using a microphone. But NPCs dont work hae way. Under normal circumstances, event chatacters who make a request usually accept either a YES or NO) shack//al_buster//eree.1_tacit_ruins//32// lwsponse. However, once I accepted Lycoris’ quest, het setting automatically changed and she became attached to ny character, Literally. There are two perspectives, or point-of-view (POV) options, in The World, First-person sets the game camera's Viewpoint through the character's eyes—you sce what your character sees (that was my preferred point-of-view). Third person sets the camera away from the player's character, In thar mode, you can see your avatar. Most players choose the third-person pezspective Decause it gives a larger field of vision, However, first-person tnakes the experience more real. Thad toggled to third-person to make sure Lycoris was sll following beside me, and I was surprised to find her character holding my hand, I didn't have long to think about ic before more creatures attacked. Lycoris moved behind me, She wasn't going to help me fight, bue at lease I didn have to worry about her either. She did't have a health gauge, meaning she couldnt be killed, I would have been more wortied if 1 were with a low-level player character that needed protecting, Jnack//al_buster//area.1_tacitrulns//33//ehack // Al buster Not that ic mattered. I made quick work of the creatua and we continued through a door that took us farther in the dungeon, We entered a room containing an altas: Floating ab the altar was a strange-looking statue. Je was the Divi Statue Room, the place where she wanted to go. That was exy, T choughe to myself The Divine Statue was always located in the deepes part of the dungeon, making it the most difficult place to find. Consequently, the treasure found thece was usually fa more valuable than any other in the dungeon, filbireo: This is the Tivine Statue Room, Lucorist Please open the treasure chest. targeted the treasure chest and opened it. You've obtained eciov.cul! “What the hell is this? A bug?” I wondered aloud, Te was a strange name for an item. Not only that, it had a file extension as part of its name, If it were a document, the extension would have been “loc.” If it were an executable file it would have been “exe.” But “cyl” 1d never heard of it. { Jnack//el_buster//erea.1_taclt_ruins//34// Area.1 Tacit Ri 1S _- Could ic have been a mistake? An error that was missed uring the last upgrade? Instead of playing in The Wodld, I was suddenly Ahinking about code and computers, It ruined the illusion of role-playing. Then my chat window opened. Lyecoris: Please sive me the eciow.cul. NPCS! requests are nonnegotiable. The only way to continue with the event is to follow their instructions. Using the trade command, I selected the item and ohayed the trade even though Lycoris had nothing for me Still, there should've been some kind of reward for completing the quest. It could be gold, experience points, information, even another quest. But if this was a bug, J couldn't expect much. In fact, it could even cause my character data to be damaged or wiped out. I wondered if I should've traded, “Thank you,” she said, Only it wasnt as scrolling text, She spoke! "Huh?" “Thank you, Albireo.” was shocked, -hack//el_buster//area.1_tacit_ruins//38//ehack // Al buster Area.1 Tacit Ruins The World allows for full vocal communication, so’ it isntt strange for an NPC to speak. Whar was stcange was that she should suddenly switch from text to verbal communication, Even more amazing, her lips were in syne with her words, Before I traded the fi moved. hr lips hadhré even As [looked at her face, she started to come to life ‘What was happening? 1 could still hear the background music and sound) effects, so [ knew my FMD speaker and PC were operating normally. Could something be wrong with the server? No. The World is on ALTIMIT OS, which uses the finest fiber-optic cables available and has excellent bandwidth to accommodate the heavy traffic. So why the sudden chan If Lycoris' voice had been prerecorded, they would have done all her lines thar way. Maybe it was a program error that misread the voice link data. If that was the case, then this was a serious programmer error. Or maybe the event ieself had changed and there was no way to rerecord the opening. Actually, chat made some sense, sheck/fel_buster//area.1_tacitruins//36// Silence. The background music, the sound effects, everything was gone, A virus? My speaker began to vibrate with a deep bass noise “Albireo.” She called my name again. “Lycoris?” [ tried looking at the little girl, but at that moment, a bight fighe formed a ring around my avatar. My POV was enclosed inside the tunnel of light and 1 \as lifted upward. When the light dissipaced, I found myself teleported out of the Divine Statue Room. sheck//al_buster//area.1_taoit_rulns//37//Town Mac * Anué“What in the world is going on?" T muttered beneath amy breath. Below me, a gondola floated down the canal beneath ny second story window. I watched it pass, trying not to think about the truly strange and unexpected curn of events. I knew she was waiting behind me, but I needed a moment, ‘The sound of traditional Irish music played in the yckground, There was a Gaelic theme in this town chat I found rather soothing, That's why chose Mac * Anu as my home. Or at least that’s why T chose ie as the homeland of ny character, Albireo,ehack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu ‘A (Datta) Server Zone: Root Town, Port Town, Mac * Anu Te was good co be home, or as much of a home as you ‘can have in The World. Colorful flags fluttered majestically along the cobblestone streets across from the canal, They represented Mac * Anu, which means Son of Goddess. Each. flag bore the town's crest along with the town's symbolic elements: wind and water. eee Mac * Anu is root town where players begin their journeys. There, players can buy whatever equipment they might need’ (weapons, armor, potions, information) and later store their acquired treasures, For those with more money than they know what to do with, such as myself, it is even possible to rent a home or a hideout. There is really no point in renting a home, but if you have the gold to spate, it serves as a status symbol and allows you to display your trophies. check//al_buster//town_mac_s_enu//42// I watched the gondola continue north along the canal, until it disappeared underneath an arched bridge. The canal cut across the middle of the town leading toward the Chaos Gate. These gates are the only way to enter or leave the towns and are protected by a spell to keep monsters at bay. The gates also act as teleporters. By selecting three words, such as dark, inaccessible, and ruins, a player can gate-in to the realm of his or her choice. The three words act as coordinates. In this ease, the player will end up at the dark, inaccessible ruins. ‘Once in the field, characters can explore. It is always possible to gate-out of an adventure and return home, but never in the middle of a dungeon. To do that, a player will have to return to the surface first. Even the surface has its dangers. The World is in the tnidse of a constant and violent battle between spirits and lemons. Just because a player isn't wandering through a dungeon doesn't mean he or she ean‘t be killed by whatever ‘monsters roam the land. A powerful Spirit Shield is cast to protect the towns from these creatures, But the Chaos Gate still remains the sheck//al_buster//town_mac_s_enu//43//ehack // Al buster Town Mac ¢ Anu weak seam in the fabric of the protective spell. Hence, the gates are also heavily guarded. T turned from the window and spoke her name under my breath. “Lycoris," Her hair rustled gently like the canal water below. Her _ eyes remained closed, her face an enigma She haduve uttered another word since she said my name in the dungeon. The geeat thing about The World is that all conversations can be reviewed. Even the spoken ones are recorded as text. I pulled up our eatliee conversation and scrolled through the dialogue: Lycoriss Thank your Abireo. Albireo. No two names can be alike in The World. I had spent three days thinking of names before I found one 1 really liked, T spent another day on my character’ design: boyish face, sinewy body, about twenty-years-old, I chose brown skin and black hair done in a wolf cut, unique even to The World, shack/al_buster//town_mac__anu//4a// I was equipped with sleeveless scale mail, leather gauntlets, and boots, and a halberd (basically a spear with an axe blade 1 the end) as my primary weapon. OF the six professional categories a player can choose from, I specialize in Pole Arms, which includes spears, pikes, and halberds, The other five include: Blade User ‘Twin User (Weapon in cach hand) Heavy Blade (Tivo-handed weapons) Heavy Axe ‘Wave Master (Spell-user) Every weapon in The World is tanked by a number. If the number of two different weapons is the same, then spears and poles would retain a higher attacking power. In other words, I would have the advantage over someone with a sword of equal value. The price pay for that advantage was a limitation on armor. What I gained » attack, T lost in defense. But this was evened out by my personal Wave -hack//al_buster//town_meshack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu My avatar’s upper arms were adorned with three white hexagons representing his Wave, earth. There are six different realms that magic can be drawn from: earth, water, fire, wood, thunder, and darkness. Each realm provides unique strengths that allow its follower t0 | launch different kinds of attacks or give extra defenses. I switched my perspective to thitd-person. The view deew back, and I could see my avatar still holding hands with Lycoris “Albireo.” She said it so fluently. With her voice! Thae was the troubling part. It couldn have been preprogrammed, ‘No two names can be alike in The World. That way each player hhas a unique name, It would be impossible to progeam every. character's name just for this event. There were t00 many, Tes possible they could have articulated all the vocal sounds and put them together to form any name, but whenever computers do sims like that, chey always sound awkward and inarticulate. She spoke my name perfectly. How sas she able 0 do that? T moved Albireo around the room. Lycoris followed him everywhere shack//al_buster//town_mac_*_anu//46// How long was this going to last? I really didn't want to adventure with a kid tagging along. I guess I would have to see this event through before I could get rid of hor. Afeer all, chat’s how I got here in the first place. Once she took my hand, we had teleported from the dungeon to my home. The only way to teleport out of a dungeon is co use Sprite Ocarina. But even that just teleports you back to the surface, not back to your home. Nothing can teleport you back home, thar would involve breaking The World protocol. Someone knocked on my door. I switched back to first-person POV. By targeting the door of my home, I enabled che conversation with whoever was on the other side. “Who's there?” I didn't have any player fiends close enough for me {0 invite to my home, In fact, Ive never allowed anyone inside my home, Lycoris was the first visitor—and she was forced upon me. “Help!” called a voice. -hack/al_buster//town_mac_*_anu//47//ehack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu Whar now?! wondered. “I'm being attacked by a creature!” Te was a female voice, very young, but that didn't mean anything. The player's real voice might've been disguised by a voice changer. For all I knew; the person running the character could've been a forty-year-old man living in his | mother's basement “es about to kill me! HELPts” If the player had shouted chat loudly in their real home, their neighbors wouldve called the police. But this couldnt be a monster, not running around a root town, ‘These were safe havens, “There are no monsters, Its impossible,” I said. “Tell that co that... ching!” the voice screamed. “Ids just a scary-looking character, Maybe its a Player: Killer?” “Icis NOT a player. I's a monster! Ahhh” That's it, Td had enough. I turned away from the door! and saw a large, swooping shadow fall across the floor of iy room, Ie was the shadow of something with wings. I tan to the window. shack//el_buster//town_mec_*enu//48// Flying outside was a harpy, a creature with the upper torso of a human woman and the lower torso of a raptor with wings and claws, In other words: a monster, looked past her and noticed a host of other creatures storming the town, Players were hard at work defending. themselves against the surprise onslaught, The evening sky vvas alive with demons; the streets flooded with creatures, Then I remembered, At least once every few months, a staged attack against a root town would occur. “This thing's too powerful for mel" the voice screamed. Annoyed, I threw open the door. Sure enough, there was a goblin with an oversized spiked mace. The goblin's arget was a cute git! with long, flowing hair down to her vist: She was clearly a Wave Master. She wore a pointy witch’s hat, a necklace, knee-high leather boots, and a tevealing white bikini with a triangle and zigzag design tepresenting her thunder Wave. Her only weapon was a long wand, ineffective for hand-to-hand combat. -hack//al_buster//town_mec_*_enu//49//ehack // Al buster j I targeted her. Her name showed up on my screent Hokuto. “Good evening, Hokuto.” “Save the pleasantries and kill this thing!” “What makes you think I'm so tough?” “You own a home, dont you? You dontt get that rich | selling ale at the inn.” The goblin whacked her again. She tried defénding herself, but she reacted too late, Her own swings were wild and panicky. I found it amusing “Your character's pretty cute I knew I shouldsit be flirting, She could be a kid. | Assuming she's even a she. ; “Thanks, Why donit you be the hero and save this | damsel in distress,” she teased, “think you can handle a simple goblin,” | countered. “Is that what chis is? What's ic doing in town? Wait ... is this supposed to be an event? “Yeah, Monsters break through the Spicit Shield and invade every so often. The announcement’ displayed on the official website page,” shack//ai_buster//town_mac_*_anu//50//ehack // Al buster Town Mac ° Anu ‘She must ve Been new (0 the game not to know this I thought. “Who wastes time reading that crap?” “Me, I guess.” “Are you going to stand there, or are you going help?” “Tm thinking about it. Maybe you wouldnt be in this situation if you kepe up with the boards.” “Fine. I'll read the boards religiously fom now on. Tl memorize them, Just kill ic!” Whack! The goblin hic her over the head. Te sounded painful, Thad long ago memorized the types of weaponry in The World so T would know how tough my opponents were. Hokato’s wand was very low-level, a beginner model, in Fact Anyone playing the game for even a few hours should've been able to upgrade. “Are you a newbie?” “Tm being sliced up by a lousy goblin! Whar do you think?" 1 laughed. “Dont just sie eheret” shack/al_buster//town_mac_s_anu//52// ‘The goblin hit her agnin, but I was safe from its attacks, Nothing can happen co a player inside their home, Other chagacters may only enter if theyire invited, And I wasnt shout to invite either her or the goblin, “Why carft I get inside?” “You need an invite “Then do it!” “Not a chance, I don't team up with other players or really didnit know the rules, join parties, Pm a loner” “Let me in or I'll die.” The goblin continued hitting her mercilessly. Whack, whack, whack? But she wasn't dying. Was she using healing spells? I clidn't notice her casting anything. Her health gauge should hve been critically low by now. “There's an old gaming adage: That which doesnt kill you makes you stronger.” “Thanks for the wisdom, jackass.” She finally managed to dodge one of the goblin’ blows. “You better hope I die. Because if I dont, P'm coming back to kill you.” Thaughed. As if a first-level character could challenge me. shack//ai_buster//town_mac_+_anu//83//shack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu “Jeske” Whatever. I was about to shut the door when Lycoris “Bind their boss, Albiteo.” Again, she used my name. appeared in front of me. Himmm . .. if she was in from of mg, that would mean that shelf my Bom. And if we were stil balding bande thar means I I shifted to third-person, We were both standing in the hall now. She had dragged me from the safety of my home. As pare of the invasion event there is always a boss, or commander, usually a high-level creature of evil warrios, who leads the attack. They are always the toughest creatures, to fight: Apparently; the invasion event was somehow connected to the Lycoris event. I guess that meant my adventure was “Damn itt” 1 grumbled as two additional goblins continuing. Ihad co see ie through. If noching else, I had to appeared from around the corner in attack mode. Jearn how she was able c say my name. “Damn itt" I said louder switching back to first-person’ POV. Then I used my attack skill—couble sweep! My spear arcedl sideways in a large semicircle, It only took one hit. Both goblins fell instantly. So did the third. Te was a big sweep “All sight, Lycos, Pl search for him.” “Thank you, Albireo:” Tt was time to go outside and face the flood, “es about time you did something” said the witch kid. Before I could make a snide comment, Lycoris spoke. Mac * Anus main street was in absolute chaos, “Look for their boss." It sounded like a command, “Lycoris?” Spells erupted like fireworks. Weapons and claws were flailing. Even the game’ background music had switched Earlier, she ignored my every question, Now she was (0 a frenzied symphonic score to match the danger level giving me orders! everyone faced. chack//al_buster//town_mac_s_anu//64// -hack//al_buster//town_mac_»_anu//65//ehack // Al buster Town Mac ¢ Anu The streets were quickly filling with ghosts, players | hear each other, and anyone else is excluded from listening. who died during the game. When a creature is killed, its Whisper Mode allows you to directly talk to another person body slowly vanishes from the screen. When a player dies, wichubete tear their character remains a silhouette, marking the place of Experienced players can quickly alternate through these their demise like a permanent shadow. modes, allowing a more sophisticated level of conversation Theard someone's voice nearby. “Judging by the hellish than in reality. For example, a character could say something, in Talk Mode, heard by all, then quickly switch eo Whisper Mode and bad-mouth someone right next to them. Of nature of our enemy, I bet the boss is some kind of ~” A heavy blow from a giant ogre cut him off. The player's avatar instantly turned to shadow, He was dead Rourse, JonUiatel ode eset eli tre ete mee ‘Someone else finished the dead player's thoughts in my: when you say a rude thing, or it could Lead to trouble, Even chat window: Oreo: The boss ust be some kind of dation! The voice chat system instantly translated the speaker's ghosts can still chat with members of their party to plead for resurrections. Because of these different modes, I wasn't bombarded words into text, hy the hundreds of player voices surrounding me. Most “Probably a greater demon,” I mused. But unlike the | ie le ess ak toy Mae eo thepocld calyeseearaees other voices, no one could hear mine. Thete are different modes of chat in The World: Talk, Party, and Whisper. Talk Mode allows everyone within with their friends, I was currently in Party Mode, but as a loner. Ihad no friends listed, meaning no one could hear me. Someone in Talk Mode said, “We have to find the boss snd kill him if we want to put an end to this invasion.” Orca: Tage, Let's 20. certain radius to hear you. Party Mode, the most common, limits your conversations to those in your immediate group, usually your friends. Only those on a shared list could shaok/fal_buster//town_mec__enu//60// shack//ai_buster//town_mac.s_snu//67//Shack //Albuster\\ My brain ran through the various types of creatures weld be up against so I could figure out what kind of boss might be in command. The majority of the creatures were 4 mix of goblins, ogtes, harpies, and bats. Goblins and bats were nothing, but to command ogres and harpies would require a demon of great power. Running through the main street, 1 wns rargeted by every creature [ encountered, Having to deal with cach creature before I could pass was becoming tedious. Suddenly, four giane ogres surrounded me, barring ry way like a wall of flesh. I could hear their simulated breathing through my speakers. 1 shouted a command: “Double sweep!” My halberd flashed through the ai The breathing ceased, Theit bodies toppled onto ea other, piling into a small mountain before fading away like mist “Awesome!” someone shouted. “He's powerfull” someone else yelled. Cheers leapt up all around me, I suddenly found every player's eyes turned toward me. Then someone began clapping. -hack//al_buster//town_mac.*_enu//68//ehack // Al buster Town Mac ¢ Anu Actions such as clapping can easily be typed int ‘The remaining players near the bridge panicked. Some sivickly ered eo resurrect their fillen comrades with spells and ieviving potions, buranyone seconsticuted was returned to death, a Keyboard with “/clap” so avatars would simulate command. Using these commands allows avatars t0 exp a wide range of emotions and actions. instant later when the demon unleashed its second attack. I didnt have time for their gratitude. T was lookin ‘The monster's power was unparalleled. Some of the for the boss, It was the only way to see through the Lycor weaker players fle te was unfair event, “This is a violation of the ulest” someone shouted. I pushed my way through the throngs of characters creatures. When I reached the base of the arched bridge th: crossed the canal, all hell broke loose. A great cloud filled the air and then, with a might roar, burst into flame, turning nearly every character on. The demon’s thied attack finished off everyone left on thy bridge. There were only ghosts filling its expanse. An eerie silence fell. There were no more resurrections, The dead remained dead. Everyone within the demon’ ‘ange was annihilated. bridge into ghosts. “Ive never seen anything so powerful” a voice said, 1 found him, dlumbstruck, ‘The demon was more than ewice as large as the ogres: had fought. Its head had two mighty horns and bat-like wing that spread wickedly from behind its back, When the creat smiled, a forked tongue wagged from its mouth and a pit “Ies unstoppable,’ someone else echoed, Turning, I noticed more characters appearing in town. Having heard of the event, people were logging in to get a glimpse of the powerful demon, At the same time, they were tail waved triumphantly: The monster resembled Satan. ecping their distance so they wouldnt lose their characters! My perspective trembled with every movement th lives. Few of them even had the power to damage the demon, demon made. This creature was powerful. nuch less take it on with any chance of winning. sheck//al_buster//town_mac_+_anu//60// shack//ai_buster//town_mac_*_enu//61//ehack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu I was amazed to see how many people could log ii without slowing down The World's server. A voice brou ime back to the matter at hand, “Defeat the demon” Ie was Lycoris speaking. Throughoue the mayhem, s had managed to remain by my side, “There will be other warriors who wish to share in this glory." I spoke in character. “Defeat it, Albicco.” MVP, [had to attack before any other high-level characte showed up. 1 kepe my POY in first-person, Seeing Lycoris runni along beside me would have been too distracting during bs charged. ‘The devil towered over me, forcing me to look up. “Primary attack,” T commanded. ‘My spear lashed out, striking the foul creature, groaned with rage and flashed its menacing fangs at me a wicked evil grin. shack//ai_buster//town_mac_+_enu//62// les wings flapped, creating an explosive wind, before it unleashed the same spell chat had just annihilated everyone oon the bridge A black sphere crashed down, engulfing me before lurning into a flash of fite, 1 was expecting the worst, but I wasn expecting this— ‘ny health gauge flashed red. I hadrit been this badly injured since my earliest days of gaming. As a solo player chere would bbe no one to resurrect me if I died, I could lose Albireo. T quickly cast a fighting spell, upping my atcack skills snd toughening my defenses while downing a Full Recover Potion. My health turned back ro green, For now. | launched a series of deadly attacks, spending as many skill points as 1 could, I knew the demon would have far seater endurance than any creature I had ever foughe before, ‘The monster released a barrage of attacks that forced mne to constantly drink healing potions to stay alive. This fight was getting expensive. My halberd made a distinctive noise when I attacked. Scldenly, I heard a new sound—somebody had joined the fray. -heck/al_buster//town_mac_s_anu//63//shack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu To an outsider, it might seem generous that someon The demon slowly faded, leaving behind a series of would jump in co help, but in ceality, they were hoping curses on my text sereen before disappearing completely. strike the deathblow before I did. Te was a competitio Knowing the beast would probably be resurrected for Whoever killed the creature would gain a large number of another event in several months made my victory less experience points. satisfying. Without warning, others joined the fracas. Like a ps Afcer a monster falls, the computer calculates the of animals, they sensed weakness. The demon was bei MVP, or who did the most damage. While the player who attacked on all sides. sivikes the deathblow gains a disproportionate amount Bue some players had jumped in too soon, and th of credit for the damage they did, I didn't have to worry demon turned them to shadows, or knocked them off shout the othess who tried to geab on to my glory. I knew bridge and into the river, I would win, I continued to attack, but in the melee, it was too diffi T could hear others chatting in Talk Mode around me. to determine the extent of damage I personally was inflicting “Who got the MVP?" ‘The beast sudlenly reeled and I knew it was time. “Who do you think?” “Triple attack!” j “T bet it was that Pole Arms, He attacked the demon A fierce combination of blows, the last being the » first” punishing, came from my weapon. “Yeah, but who got the deathblow?" The monster fell. “Who knows, too many people were attacking. Could've My health gauge wasn far from death either, and Jween anyone.” quickly downed a few moze rejuvenation potions to br I smiled. A moment later, a chest fell into my view. ime up to normal levels When a chest is awarded, only the player who wins can see sheck//al_buster//town_mac_*_anul/64// sheck//al buster//town_mec.+ enu//65//ehack // Al buster J Town Mac * Anu or open it. It would take the others a moment to che Lucoris: Please sive me the roe.cul. their screens to see who was declared MVP. When they di Despite my attempts to ignore her, she wouldnit shut up. find out, I heard those who were in Talk Made groan. “Please give me the rae.cyl.” “Congratulations.” Tt was a loop. She wouldn't quit unless I gave in to her Tk was Orca, I looked up and saw him for the fi request Te was the only way to proceed to the nexe phase time. He was a muscular, bare-chested Blade User, of the event. switched to Talk. “Please give me the rae.cyl” “Thanks.” I wasnt really interested in a conversatioi Teoggled trade and gave it to her. so T turned away from him, targeted the chest, and 11 The file name was different, bucit had the same unusual ‘opened it, extension, “yk” Could it be specific to The World? “What did you get?” Thated to be rude to the Blade User, but how could 1 I stared at the chest in disbelief explain chac the treasure I won was some kind of encoded “Was it worth if” he asked, file? Besides, I hated drawing attention to myself, and I “Uh... sorry. I have to go.” wasn't looking for company on my adventures. Thad to apologize as I pushed past his character ai Tentered my building and headed back upstairs. fled down the street toward my home, o@e awn Hokuto: There vou are! Lycoris! words repeatedly scrolled down my Her words flashed across my sereen as she practically window as I ed her down the side strect and back home, jelled them into my ear Ieally wasnt in the mood for this. -hack/al_buster//town_mao_» enu//66// -hack//el_buster//town_mehack // Al buster Town Mac ¢ Anu Hokuto was waiting in front of my door: 1 targeted he 80 we could speak to each other. “Lsee you survived the invasion.” “No thanks to you” “Id say you owe me a big thanks. I did kill che goblin! “You were going to leave me to die. Tt was an accide that you popped out of your home. You werent going help me at all.” “Yeah, well ... you're welcome.” “Hmpht” Her avatar’s face switched to a fai expression and her arms folded in indignation. “Ate you one of those people who go online just work out your real world frustrations?” I asked. “Whatt! Listen, Al... Albion... Alborio ..” “Its Al-heer-ee-oh!” “Whatever.” She snorted, “You dont have to shout all the time.” Why was she so noisy? And bothersome? And blocki my doorway?! “can hear you without you shouting. You dont hav to be insulting as well.” -hack/ei_buster//town_mac.*snu//68// Her avatar switched from furious anger to extreme rage. Ie was che highest degree of anger she could type in. Atleast I knew it wouldate get any worse, “Tnsulting? How am I being insulting?” “By mocking my name? What if instead of Hokuto 1 called you Hoochie? How would char make you feel? “You wouldn't dare!” I wouldnt, but only because I was courteous. Besides, why was I being intimidated by a first-level character? 1 could kill her with one swing if I wanted to. “Look, I spent three days coming up with my name. T don't appreciate “Three dayst" “Yeah.” “Three days on that name?” I sighed, She didn’ gee it. She wasn't into The Woeld like most of the players T had encountered, “Tes common courtesy to be polite to strangers, specially since we dontt have any idea who we could be in 1eal life, For all you know, I could be your school principal!” She was so insolent she had to be a teenager. -hack/al_buster//town_mac_s_snu//69//— ehack // Al buster Town Mac ¢ Anu “So sorry. I didn't know you made up the rules of The World?” “still saved you, didete I? Why are you so upset? Gee over it. If you keep complaining, I'l report you to the GM." “Who?” “The Game Master” She still didnt get ic. “The system administrators. They monitor everything.” “Why?” “You can be flagged for being overly rude and “Ie not my rule. Ie a commonly accepted rule of the online world everywhere. I'm sure you must have learn about this when—" Why was T wasting my time? “I've had enough. Goodbye.” JL removed my target from hes, obnoxious.” “Waitt” she shouted, “How would they know?” “Stop shouting!” I shouted back, before realizing "The log.” couldn't hear me, I rargeted her again. Hokutor “Stop shouting.” { She typed that in to represent silence. I continued. “You're insanely high-level, aren’ you? You blew awa Damn newbies. the goblin in one shot. But when you could've easly save “Tes a record of our conversation. Everything we say Giannis is recorded by the fog, And based on the common sense of, The World, you would be considered at fale” “Oh yest” we “Te keeps everything you say?” “There's no rule that says I have to save every player sce who's about to be killed.” “What about your ‘courtesy’?" “You're responsible for your own destiny in chis work You can thrive or die in The World at your own tisk.” This was exasperating, “Yes, Every shout, every rude “That's not very nice.” word, every obnoxious comment.” sheck//al_buster//town_mac.*_enu//71//shack // Al buster “Then ic would have a record of your s harassment.” “What?! What are you talking about?” “Now who's shouting?” Tcouldnt help myself. This gil, if she was a git, too much, “That's it. P'm reporting you.” “Go ahead. And Tl report you. Tell me, which is mor serious—someone who is merely rude or someone who sexually harassing? You said Id be flagged for my comment but what would they do to you?” Td be blocked from The World. “Yeah, buc youre lying” “Oh, really? And what about when you called me cut You gawked at me, too.” “hac? T was just... . that was just my impression o your character.” “Wouldn't sound good coming from someone wh could be my high school principal.” “But I'm not your...” She had a point. [had said so stupid things as well. But just because I called her “cu shack//al_buster//town_mac_+_anu//72// Town Mac ¢ Anu inside che game didnt mean I was sexually harassing het. However if she reported it, the report would still be a mark fon my file, even if ie was a false one. Sometimes the system could be used against you too easily. “How do you want to play it?” She was gloating, I could hear it in het voice. Her avatar’s expression changed as well She kept her arms crossed, but a wicked smile played seross che witch’ lips and she threw her head back. The expression she chose was “triumphantly smug.” ‘Why wouldntt she go away? “What do you want?” I asked. “Your address” “My what” “Give me your member address! I want co be friends!” “Priendst” This was too much of a price to pay. My head ached. I needed some aspizin. “Tm waiting, Or do I report you to the system administrators?” 1 toggled her an invite shack/al_buster//town_mac_+_snu//73//shack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu According to legend, if you invite a vampire into yo home, you render yourself powerless against the creatu ‘That's how T was feeling now, “What a dump!" Hokuto said as she entered, "Please, don't insult—” “Why don't you have any furnicure? Ate you poor?” “my hom: Apparently, she doesnt realize how much money costs just to rent a place, “[ prefer a minimalist look.” “Yeah, but I ead some gaming magazine that descr how people completely decked out their homes any way they wanted.” “Uh-huh” “Not you, though.” “Guess not,” A tare moment of silence followed as she lookee around the place. Unfortunately, ie didiie last. “Let's decorate.” “Whar?” “C'mon, it'll be fun." shack//ai_buster//town_mac_sanu//74// “For who?” “This place is boring, It's drab. Tes an eyesore." “And it’s mine, So leave it alone.” “Yeah, but it's ours now.” Ouus? She didn'e juse say that. Did she? “Well place a sofa here, get pink curtains, maybe some throw rugs... oh, and over there we can put a fountain, or maybe a statue” “Absolutely non” “We'll have to get rie of this grungy table.” ‘Did you hear me?” eee An hour later, we were walking along the main street of the town. Ie’s hard to believe that this was the site of a major battle a shore while ago, But in the game world, ‘once an event is over, it’s over, Everything quickly returns to normal, Already, players were back to haggling over the prices of the merchants’ wares and looking for the best deals. shack//al_buster//town_mec_s_anu//76//shack // Al buster “Where's a good place to busy magic armor?" "Go to the Greedy Fighter.” “Where’ tha” “"You need to go to a different server. Tey 2 (Sigma)! A little earlier, some of these same people were cheering my victory over the demon; now they didn't remember me. “Look at this idiot.” Hokuto pointed out a sto character with a giant muscular body and a tiny he who was carrying an awkward-looking, heavy axe. He screaming at someone. “They said it was a magic potion, but instead it's just normal healing water that you can buy off any cleric for gold piece!” Hokuto laughed. “You think ies fanny?" “OF course, Ie’ like he's advertising how stupid he is, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else rips him off in th next five minutes.” “Then learn from his mistake and don't scream in middle of town.” -hack//al_buster//town_mac_*_enu//76// Town Mac * Anu We stopped at one of the shops and I targeted the owner, a stout fatherly merchant behind the counter, “Welcome,” he said in a friendly, enthusiastic voice. “I hhave many wares to sell. What are you interested in?” ‘A window appeared on my screen listing everything available, “Not exactly like shopping at Saks,” said Hokuto, 1 gave her the silent treatment, Albires: “Don't do that, its annoying” “You did it eal “No, I didnt” “Whatever, Just hurry up and pick what you want.” T hatdly paid attention to the display and just hoped, she wouldnt pick out anything too expensive. After all, it wasnt her money she was spending, “You know what this reminds me of?" “Hm?” “Tes like a couple choosing theit furnicure when they're moving in together for the first time.” She typed in the command “/smile” and her avatar smiled. shack//el_buster//town_mac_s_anu//77//shack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu Thoped she didnt think that applied to us. How did lee myself get roped into this ridiculous sieuation? 1 saw her screen highlight several items. When al highlighted a couch, I decided to end the shopping spree, “All right, tha’s the last ite “"Wohae? But there's more stuff T wanna buy!” "You bought too much already.” T heard another character, a heavy Blade dressed as samarai, arguing with the merchant, 1)" Comtenony doatt be bo Hild. Cuttne adpeoune AG all, Jook how muuch I've purchased from you” He must be a newbie, He’ talking to che merchant if he’ a character and not an NPC. It docsrte matter hi much you buy, the prices are always the same, Te was time to go home. We left the building load with the new furniture, One of the advantages of purchasing in eyberspace, you never need a moving van. Hokuto sounded mote pleased once she fini arranging everything we'd purchased, shack//ei_buster//town_mac_+_enu//78// “There now! This isnt so bad. This place is starting to shape up.” Hokuto typed "/yes" a couple of times, nodding iwice, The room looked awful. In no time, my carefully carved-out home had been transformed into Hokuto’ privare hideaway. The worst was the pink curtains, “Are you satisfied, princess?” Using a shortcut command, I shook my head. I found that here were five basic actions worth programming as shortcuts: #flook’ (stare) ses" (nod) “tna? (shake head) suck" (shrug) ge” (wave goodbye) From my past experience, these actions usually covered just about any situation, I didrie think there were enough shortcuts for Hokuto to choose from. She was all over the emotional range, though her favorites seemed to be: shack//al_buster//town_mac.s_snu/!79//shack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu “Alook_hard” (stare hard) *Jenth_ves™ (nod enthusiastically) *{is_no® (vigorously shake head no) *#infur® (look infuriated) “#:rium_smua” (throw head back arrogantly) “Well. . its probably getting near your bedeims Shouldn't you log out?” “What? [es only nine o'clock, Who do you think I some elementary school brat who sleeps with a baby bl and pees in her bed at night?” ‘Hmm, she’ older than I thought; Maybe junior high high school age, but definitely no older. Instead of leaving, she sank down into the sofa, “He Once you exchange member addresses, you can form a past right” Any player who would ask such a stupid questi shouldsic have the right to sit on an 198,000 GP sofa. “Yeah.” Tpulled up the addres lst, Ie used to be empty. Ni one name haunted its otherwise empty space: Hokuto, shack//ei_buster//town_mac_+_enu//80// “How long has it been since you joined The World?” J asked. “A week.” No wonder she's so inexperienced. Doesn't matter. 1 can remove her from my address list anytime, and block her from sending messages in the future, Once she's gone, T can sell all of this gitlish furniture, even if T do take a big loss. Then I can buy back my favorite table. “Hey! T have an idea!” “Were not getting any more decorations for this place!” “Let's form a party together!” “What” “Why not? We exchanged addresses, s0 let's do it! Please! Please! Please!” Hokuto’ avatar smiled brightly. “Tm a solo player. Havenlt 1 mentioned that like six hhundeed times?” “Ob, boo-hoo, you like to play solo. Who cares? It's more fin to be in a party.” “Not for me!” hhack//al_buster//town_mac.*_anu//81//ehack // Al buster Town Mac ¢ Anu “Wall chae’s what T want to do.” “Yes. And I'll tell everyone that you abused me:" Give me a break. The log would back me up on this one. T couldnt recall ever having a worse day inside che game world. This was too much, But I still felt bad about making “IE you keep acting like this, no one will ever want form a party with you.” “Acting like whac?” “Selfish!” her cry. Silence. I stared at her and she stared at me. She “Look... 'm sorry.” I hit an action command so my still sieving on the couch, but her avatar remained perfe wwatar would appear sorry as well. “Really?” “Yes, I mean it. I shouldnt have said that to you.” motionless. Then I heard her over my headphones. Te very faint, very quiet at first, but then ic got loudes, thot 1 could tell she was erying to hold back. She was crying, “So you admie it's your fault.” T muted my sigh, then continued, “Yes, it was all my “Oh, no, Donte tell me youre... you'e not .. ery fault. You dontt have to go outside and cry. I wish you wouldere ery at al” ‘She was definitely in junior high. She couldn't possibly bye any older. + are you? j She tried to choke back the tears, but it was useles Why didnt she hit “mute” if she didn't wane me to heat? Her avatar finally moved. She got up and walke toward the door. It was odd to see her ayatar’s face look “IF you'te sorry, then you'll form a party with me,” T hit mute before the string of curses left my lips. 1 s0 neutral while heating the choked-back sobs coming ff clidn't wane her to stare crying again, My silence didn't go over well. She began to whimper. “AIL right! We'll,” I couldn't believe I was saying this, somewhere far away. “Tm going’ is all she said. “form a party.” "Going? Where? Are you going outside to cry?” -hack//al_buster//town_mat nu//82/1 shack//al_buster//town.mac_+7 shack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu Tused the “/smile” command, which I hardly ever just to be nice about it, Then I pulled up the address li selected Hokuto's name and sent an “invitation” to fo a party “There. I invited you, Select ‘OK’ and you'll be—” “Invitation Accepted!” flashed across my screen befo Tcould finish, Added to the lower pare of my screen we I didnt think of it before, but no one else had seemed to react to Lycoris when I was fighting or walking around the town, Apparently she was only visible to me, Well, me ov anyone in my party. But if she was invisible to anyone outside of the party, then for all I knew, there could be other invisible Lycoris characters floating around with other adventurers. Hokuto’s health and skill point gauges, “Hee “What ‘interesting’? Who is she? T thought you liked “Yay! ‘The tears thac sounded so seal a moment ago were ni gone, Was she faking it? “Oh, nos" “Now what's wrong?!” to work alone?” “Her name is Lycoris. She's an event character” “What's an event character?” “Someone who begins an event, such as a quest or an “There's some kind of spittin here.” What is she talking about Ts she insane? spirit?” “Guarding you? A gich” Hokuto’ eyes moved away and targeted something adventure, Like a king who sends out advencurers to rescue his daughter, ot a shady character who sells you a treasure snap and later tries to steal the treasure from you, Each one begins some kind of event.” No it wasn't possible for there to be more than one of in the room, Then I remembered. Lycoris, “Didit you see her before?” “No. She just appeared the moment we became a part cach event character. What if ewo different groups teamed. up to form a new party? Te wouldnt work if each group was at a different stage of the event. Some players might have irrack/(al-buseteti(Sew rl maareianu/7eA// chack//al_buster//town_mac_»_anu/86//ehack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu progressed further than the others and that would screw the adventure. There could only be one Lycotis event “You followed me home?" “"Well, not at first. Bue then I thought it would be best to talk to you, T didn't mean to upset you.” “Not at all” "Good," His voice suddenly changed tone, “You seem “Will you stop mumbling to yourself?" Hi yelled, At the same moment, there was a knock on the di “Oh, nos" “What is ico” Jike a brave and hearty warrior. It would be an honor to buy 4 drink for such a valiane man as yourself” He was role-playing. Sometimes people scoff at those In all my time in the game, no one had ever visited 1 who take the game too seriously, but it's widely accepted Now it was happening twice in one day. 4s another way t0 enjoy the game on a deeper level. After ul, role-playing doessit end when you choose your warrior class. There are secondary careers such as Informants who sell information on how ro conquer the game for money, “Hello! Do you remember me? We fought the Traders who broker the items to be traded, and Singers and. ee Comedians who perform on the street corners. One could His name was displayed in my voice chat window. was Orca, the guy who asked me what was in the chest Tkilled the demon, I wonder if he named himself after Killer whale, even consider the Cobalt Knights to be a warrior subset. Looked over Orea’s avatar, He was a giant of a figure. His upper body was ball of muscles covered only by a hharness-belt anda piece of heavy shoulder armor, He carried his sword sheathed on his back. His Wave symbol was painted in white like an X crisscrossing his face and chest. The white “Sorry about ckopping in on you like this, but T you in front of the shop earlier and—” sheok//ei_buster//town_mac_*_enu//96// shack//ai_buster//town mec.» anu//87/1ehack // Al buster paint stood out in deep contrast to his dark green skin copper-colored hair. For some reason, his midsection lower arms were normal flesh tone, but everywhere else green, He had chosen a truly unique look, T set my chat mode to Whisper so that we cou converse alone, “What do you want?” “Twas impressed by the way you fought so fearless cali. Without regard tm your own well-being, with anyone to back you up of resurrect you should you fall, still rushed in eo attack the foul creacure who corrupted town with its vile presence and rained his evil armies dk upon.” “Please, get to the point.” “Thave a proposition, demon-slayer.” “Go on?” “Lsuggest that we should, er, well, that is... why dl wwe exchange member addresses?” “Member addresses?” “Yeah, So we could team up. You know, you could joi our party.” shack//al_buster//town_mac_+_anu//88// you talking about? I cant hear a word you say ‘our party’?" Town Mac * Anu Not again! “What do you think?” T cleared my throat. “Tdor't exchange member addresses wich anyone. Thae’ just the way I prefer to play, I'm sorsy but you should look elsewhere.” “What about her?” He pointed past me, Her? Could he see Lycoris? I turned. Hokuto stepped forward. “ello there! Whate you talking about?” The fact she was inside my home proved chat weld exchanged member addresses, I quickly continued. “She's the only exception I've ever made, Anyway, I dont like to form parties” “But you've formed a party with her.” As if on cue, Hokuto butted in, “What is ie? Whavze T switched to Hokuto and whispered, “Please, let ne finish.” Then I cut back to Orca, so she couldn't hear. "There's a reason she's here, but its far too complicated to get into sight now and... wait a minuee, Did you say join shack//al_buster//town_mac_s_anu//88//Shack /Arbuster\\ Ih, yes. I have a partnes” Orca turned sideways and beckoned someone forward. Another Blade User appeared fom around the corner of the hallway. I recognized him as another cone of the players who jumped into the battle with the demon, Orca introduced us. “His name is Balmung! He's my gaming partner.” he's a solo player, you shoulduit force him to join cl T switched to Talk Mode. It is the only way eo have a almung sounded annoy conversation with two or more players of other party. Of course, you can never tell what secret conversations are going on behind the scenes. “How do you do, Balmung?” The name Balmung refers to the name of a famous sword in German mythology: Most m mythology or epic rales were quick of The World. The fact chat he ha! this name meant he'd been playing a long time, taken in the early da Balmung resembled a valiant knight. Beneath his shock of white hair, he had classically handsome features, wor bright plate mail, and was armed with a thin, long dagger a rare and highly ranked weapon. -hack//al_bustor//town_mac_+_anu//90//ehack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu T zoomed in on his face. It was almost too hands “Maybe. But I gee more experience points if I don't suggesting that the player behind the character might Juve to share with a group” self-conscious about his looks in the real world. I wondi ““Balmung used to be solo until he ceamed up wich me” how young he was. It's a bit of a generalization, but m “Ohy’ I looked at Balmung with renewed interest. “Did players over the age of ewenty-five find it embarrassing. you reach your current level as a solo player?” play the classic hero and prefer a mote rugged char “For the most part. I belonged to a party when I frst much like Orea had chosen, “Hey, guys, what's up?” Hokuto couldn't have started the game, but thar didn't lase long, T've been solo the mite time until I met Orca.” more out of place in this group. I jumped co Whig “Thae’s pretty amazing” Mode and asked her to stay quiet and listen. “T find playing solo actually helps you survive. You “So youre looking for a third to fill out your party asked. The World limited parties to three players. “That's right! Ie’ noe easy to find someone who's slon’t get killed by your teammates’ mistakes.” His voice inclicated a bitter experience from the past. OF the two, Orca was clearly the more sociable one. He our level. It's even more difficult finding someone ust have charmed Balmung into joining him. he approves of.” Orca pointed at Balmung, “What is your plan once you acquire your party? I bet Balmung stared at me. “It’s unusual ro play s inside The World.” The World recommends forming parties, only there’ hardly an area now that you two couldnt conquer together. Why add a thind?” These two were alzeady in the lop one percent of the more than fifteen million online ensure greater survivability and hence, greater enjoy the game, The only advantage of solo play is you get to Orca responded. “As a matter of fact, we've recently everything you find. tliscovered just such an area.” hack//ai_buster//town_mac_+_enu//92// shack//el_buster//town_mao_»_anu//83//ehack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu “Why not?” “Why not’ what?” asked Orca. Hokuto had re- sponded to me in Talk Mode, not Whisper. I forgot she'd only been playing a week and wouldn't be proficient in the “Really? What’ it called?" 1 asked. “The One Sin,” Balmung muttered. His words brought a moment of silence. subdleties of conversation that existed. T could see Balmung looking at me, He knew I had Tiga vies Orealpad Baleminel seri ene whispered something to her. I could tell he was probably Sin wasn't something to be discussed in the hallway. doing the same with Orca now. Ir gave me a second to talk Orca was the first to comment as he looked arou to Hokuto, “You don’t need to reply. I'm in Whisper Mode, “What a... cute home. I wouldn't have expected, from you.” which means only you can hear me, so just listen quietly ] GTldecevated thes mscrayiiT bats pcoud ee ae Lycoris is... well, it’s something we should clear together “Yeah, I had nothing to do with it,” I emphasize without letting the others know about it.” “Those curtains hurt my eyes,” Balmung mutte T would have preferred to clear the event on my own, ‘When I looked at them, I realized they hurt mine as Thue Thad to keep her quiet about it. Players like Orea and Thate pink, What was I thinking? We all sat down. “Don't tell chem anything about Lycoris,” I whis Balmung were well connected in The World and kepe up With the message boards. If they knew of Lycoris, they would stare threads to learn more and soon word would to Hokuto, Clearly, they couldn't see her or they er our about the litele gis! dressed in red, I didn’t want Herel eee en hea Ort sige cay a that. The one advantage of having a newbie in my group (a ‘ ‘yas that she wasn’t connected to anyone or anything in shack//al_buster//town_mac.*_anu//94// -hack//al_buster//town_mac_+ enu//95//ehack // Al buster Town Mac ¢ Anu ‘The World. And I already knew she didn't bother wit the boards, “Got it!” she said. Orca turned to her again. “Gor what? What are talking about?” ‘Why wouldnt she listentt I decided to quickly ch the topic. “So tell me about The One Sin, Orca.” “Right said Orca. T could tell he was beginning have his doubts about me, “I heard it’s the highest difficulty level within World" I continued, “Jes more than that. These days i's become int as a Player Killer of all levels. Even mid-level charact are killed without so much as slaying a single guatdian, “I think theyke Captive, Fallen, and Angel. I've been there before. Not that I tried conquering the area.” Balmung leaned in. “It’s impossible . . . for a solo player” “Because you cant be resurrected.” “But The One Sin can be conquered,” Orca asserted. “"Why do you think that?” Balmung answered this time, “If there is an event so difficulethac it cannot be cleared, that's a bug in the system, That would mean The World is flawed.” Orea jumped in. “And we don't believe that. We think it’ a good game and if itis good then there must be balance.” “That's why you believe you can conquer the area? Fhecause it would mean The World is defective if you couldnt” “Absolutely! I believe in this world.” Orca nodded his head. 1 was beginning to like Orca. Not just the character, hhuc the player behind him, I wondered how old he was. Most players were young, even the “old-timers.” supposed to be impossible to conquer and they say no is strong enough to stand up to the event's boss.” “Bue that’s just a rumor” “You've heard of The One Sin then?” oe “Do you know the three coordinate words to there?” Jnack//ai_buster//town_mec. -heck//ai_buster//town_mac_+_anu//97/1ehack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu “You two really love The World, don't you?” ‘Orca jumped in, “Balmung! Enough!” He turned (Orca was surprised by my question. “Of course! So toward me. “Tm sorty, Albiteo, he didn't —" you, Albireo, or you wouldn't have developed your charact this far. You must be attached to him,” “No, It’s a legitimate concern. I understand why you would think that since I wasn't straightforward with you. “Youre right about that.” I's the Divine Spear of Wotan.” Balmung stared in my direction. “Albireo?” “What's that?” Orca asked, buc 1 knew Balmung “Yes?” would understand its origin, “The legendary spear from the ‘Ring of the Nibelung’ ” Balmung responded, “We recognize most of the weapons in The World j by looking at them, But yours...” “You mean this?” I held up my halberd. But this no ordinary halberd, and its beautiful decorative design “I Figured you would know.” Balmung nodded, but Orca still looked puzzled. it apart as a rare item. Clearly Orca and Balmung had be “One interpretation of Wagner's opera is chat Wotan’s whispering about it, “Where did you get it?" Orca asked. “Is it a re from an event? What's the name of the spear?” Speat is what carries out the God's order, and is treated as the symbol of both contract and authority.” “Opera?” asked Orca, “Tm afraid I cant tell you.” “A composer created an opera based on the epic “Why?” “e's a secret,” poem ‘Song of the Nibelungs’ It’s from a mixture of Germanic and Icelandic legends thar Wagner put “Secret?” Balmung sounded skeptical. Jogether in what is known as the ‘Ring of the Nibelung’ “Twon' tell you. Leave it at that.” I's about a dwarf who steals some magic gold that he Balmung continued, “I hope ies not a cheat item") hopes will make him all-powerful, Instead, he brings sheck//al_buster//town_mac_*_anu//98// shack//al_buster//town_mac_s_anu//99//ehack // Al buster Town Mac ¢ Anu about a series of events that eventually causes the fall the Gods. One of those Gods is Wotan. The hero in t epic is Siegfried and I named myself after the sword: carried, Balmung.” “Thad no idea you were so knowledgeable, Balmung: “I based my name upon the legend. It's tr magnificent. You should look into ie sometime.” Orca shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.” Orca clearly prefer hhack-and-slash adventure over the subtleties of mych story. “The question is,” Balmung continued, "where you get it?" “He doesn't have to tell us that,” Orca said, “No, it's all right. I don't wane there to be any understandings beeween us. I'll be direct, but I trust have your confidence in this matter.” They both agreed. “This spear is from the era of Fragment.” “You mean the beta version?” Orca’s voice tu up a notch. “Albireo, you were one of che original players?” snack//al_buster//town_mac_»_enu//100// “Yes.” “Awesome! That's totally awesome, ist it, Balmung?” Orea was excited. "Balmung was one of them, too!” “You were a test player for the beta version?” That meant he'd been around longer than I thought. No wonder he was able co obtain a name from myth. Orca continued, “I heard only 1,024 players were selected from the general public. Damn, Tim jealous!” Balmung remained silent, this spear cannot be obtained in the current version of The World, Thav’s why I didn’t wane to talk, about it.” “OF course! Something from Fragment ... ies a teue fact. Ym sure there's no shortage of players who would want ie, Pretty badly, I imagine.” have no intention of giving i up. But if others knew; then I'd be constantly bothered by players wanting to make me offers in trade.” “Not to mention someone who might eey to kill you for it. At Teast you're powerful enough not to worry about that.” shack//al_buster//town_mac_»_enu//101//shack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu “Again, I would like your reassurance, Since T straightforward with you, hold my confidence dear and di say a word about this spear to anyone else.” “Pll forget we ever talked about it.” Orca smiled. 1 typed in and returned che gesture. Orca changed tones. “So, Albiteo, les get back to ‘matter at hand," Thanks!” online pretty much every day.” ‘Me too! Except when T have exams, That’ the only lime my parents forbid me to play online.” Orea’s younger than T thought. He's probably still in high school. “Yeah, there's no greater threat to The World than. parents.” “T'm sorry, but I cant join your pacty.” I dida't mean “Doesn't matter how high-level you ate, they're the one be so blunt, but T wanted to make it as clear as possible, boss that’s impossible to defeat.” He laughed, “Tse. Balmung got up. “Let's go, Orca. Were done here.” “Let me explain. I'm currently in the middle of Orca stood, sill laughing. “Allright, Balmung hates to hear about real life in The World.” “Don't talk about something that’s so irrelevant,” event. Tim affaid I must continue until its over. I cart lea Sorry about that.” “Wall, its disappointing” Orca sighed. “But it cant helped.” “Tjuse wane you both to know, you guys are the very fr Balmung shor out bitterly. “You see, Oh well, it just proves how much he enjoys the game.” players fee like forming a party with inside The World” “Orca!” Balmung yelled. ‘Orca smiled brightly. “That's great to hear!” 4 “I understand how you feel, Balmung” “Tl keep your addresses. If you happen to need Tn fact, I was quite similar to him. [admired both of send me a message, Although I can't team up, I still migh them, Orca for his warmth and directness, Balmung for his able to help out in an emergency.” Jove of the game. shack//sl_buster//town.mac_s_anu//102// sheck//el_buster//town_mac_+_enu//103//ehack // Al buster “Wek challenging The One Sin tomorrow mor: at nine a.m. Wish us luck.” “Good luck, I mean it.” eee They left. Even though we had just met, I fle like T saying goodbye to friends, It had been a long time sit 1 felt that way. Actually, I hadn't fele this good since first played in The World and everything was new exciting “They seem pretty cool,” I turned toward Hokut “You can unzip your mouth now.” Hokuto lec out a gasp of air, She breathed in and dramatically to show how restrained she was. “Tm impressed. You were surprisingly quiet.” “Because T didn't understand a word you said!” How could she? Most newbies wouldn't underst the incricacies of what we were discussing. But it di ‘matter, the game was what you made of it. It was there everyone to enjoy at any level, shack//al_buster//town_mae_+_anu//104// Town Mac * Anu “Drop out?" “You know, log out, I have to leave the game.” “Wait. You'te going? Now?!” I selected the logout command, I realized I probably shouldn't return to my home for a while. In fact, I wondered if'maybe I should abandon ic altogether. Then I could block Hokuto so 1 wouldn't receive messages from her anymore. That way, I'd be done with the wearisome wicked witch. Hokuto looked at me. “What's wrong?” Several seconds passed. “Why aren't you leaving? Say something,” “T can't do it.” n't do what? “T can't log out.” I switched to third-person POV. I could see all three characters, Albireo, Hokuto, and Lycoris, standing in the middle of my gaudily decorated home. I realized Lycoris had been quiet ever since I handed he the second item. “You can't log out?” Hokuto asked. shack//el_buster//town_mec_*_anu//108//ehack // Al buster Town Mac * Anu “Tcan‘t pull myself out of the game screen.” Normally, ifa player selects the logout command the root town, the screen returns co the top page of World. Ie like placing a bookmark where you last left of But this time it wasn't working, T knew it couldn't be the system. ALTIMIT OS infallible, Problems such as disconnections, which happ all the time in the old era, never happen anymore. Never! There wasn't even an error message saying why wasn't working. I was stuck in the game, “T got itt” Hokuto said. “Why don't you call person you mentioned? The ones who keep their eyes everything, The BM?” “You mean the GM” “Yeah, the systems guys!” CC Corp, which runs the game, always has opei ready to help iffa problem or glitch should occur. They con twenty-four-hour standby in case a problem devel But the problems they deal with ate outlined in the Us Agreement, and I didn't think ic would include this. sheck//ei_buster//town_mac_s_enu//106// “Ie isn't proper to call up the system administrators for a troubleshooting problem.” “Bur aren‘t they supposed to support the users?” “Yes, But they're only to be used in an emergency, So far, this isn't one, Usually when something like this, happens, it’s temporary. Ill probably fix itself in a moment.” I decided to take it easy. After all, this wasn't really. 1 big deal. “Maybe it's the girl.” “Who? Lycoris?” "Yeah, Maybe she doesn’t want to let Al go? “AR Who's AB" “You. Your name's too long and complicated- sounding, so Tm going to call you Al. And I chink I'll call her Lyco. Ie’s better, don't you think?” T rolled my eyes and hie the dot, dot, dot key for silence, indicating I had no opinion on the matter. I thought i¢ best to let her do what she wanted, Te was better than arguing, “Hey, Al.” shack//al_buster//town_mac__anu//107//shack // Al buster I sighed. “Whar” Hokuto stood up from the sofa, and approached me closely that her face covered my entire screen, “Your eyes are two different colors. One is blue the other is yellow." “know. That's what I wanted.” “Why? Are you trying to look cool?” “AFK," I shot back. “AFKY” “Ic means ‘Away From Keyboard: I'm leaving my | Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd.¢ fait. What about me?” “Go play outside. I'll disband the party.” T selected “disband.” Hokuto’s HP disappeared ry sereen, On her screen, Albireo’s gauge should ha disappeared, too, “Good night.” And good riddance, shack//ei_buster//town_mac_+_anu//108//Someone was knocking, When I removed the FMD, 1 saw a fresh-faced kid standing on the other side of the glass loos, Held been working for me for over a month, but I could never remember his name. “The papers you requested, Watarai” He laid them clown on my desk. “Thanks.” I thumbed through them while he waiced for further instructions. Then I asked, “Any new reports on the Vagrant AL we missed the other day?" “Nothing yet. But we've increased our patrols.” T leaned back in my chair and looked pase the kid through che glass wall of my office. I stared out at the sea of cubicles; the right angles of their partitioned walls seemedshack // Al buster Real Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd. to stretch outward like an Escher drawing, I used to assigned co one of those cubicles until I earned this off Te wasnt very large, but at least i was mine. “We're looking into every bug report that comes ji the kid said nervously to fill the silence. “And there's no new information ot witnesses?” He shook his head. “But the report we received the before yesterday was dead on! We missed our shot.” “The Als are getting shiftiet: Their functionality increased so they know how to evade us. They never stay] the same ple for long” “When did Vagrant Als firse appear?” the kid “Basic ones were first discovered in the beta versi Bue the Vagrant Als at that time coulda even send out ‘messages, let alone move around the system, Not only: but they weren't smart enough to evade being deleted, Si they couldn't gate-out of theit realm, they were stuck in place until we found them.” “But they'te evolving?” “don care for the word awh. It makes them soun; if they're alive. Theyre not” I moved the stack of papers -hack//el_buster//resl_cyberconnect japan_co.,_Itd.//11: the side of my desk, “IF you are not scheduled to join the Brigade patrols, you can go home early” “Sounds good. Thanks” “Unless you want to get in some overtime without pay. You know, impress the boss.” “Uh, Tim happy to go home.” No ambition, That was the problem with many of the kids today, Hited sight after graduation, he did what he was told, earned his paycheck, and never strived for more, Maybe it would be different if he'd been assigned to the game development section. That's where most people wanted to be. Unlike the sterile corporate atmosphere on this floor, the gamers decotated their offices with posters and artwork, played loud music, and generally had more fan. Te was like bing in college, only you were getting paid vo be there, But, this kid was assigned to me because he didn do well enough in his training sessions. They made him a flunky. “Any plans for tonight?” I asked, “Not really. I might actually jump online, but." he trailed off "Ics weird, when I was a student I was totally hack//s\_buster/real_cyberconnect japan.co.,itd.//113//shack // Al buster Real Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd. lever forget the Love you first felt for The World. Currently, that’s the only merit you've got. Otherwise, you'll into the game. I used to skip clases and give up sleep play, but now that T work here.” “You lost interest, right?” “Not exactly: But ie’ different somehow." remain an errand boy the rest of your caret.” “Bae eventually Tl get some online responsibilities, “Maybe if you had studied for your exams mi right” instead of wasting all your time online, youd be working’ “Not antil you've earned some seniority” I wondered a better company?" I joked, if held take my hint. He laughed. “IF there's a better company than 01 show i co mi “T heard you participated in localizing the Japanese version of The World. That eruc?” Did he think thar asking me about my past counted as overtime? "Yes, I did” “That's so awesome!” Since he reacted ro my news like a fanboy, T thought Tid impress him with my story, “T started here the year CC fe straightened up, “No, whae I meant 1 approach it differently. Before, I used to always check the bulletin boards (BBS) to gather information on how conquer the game or roam about an atea searching for items. And now, Tye stopped doing things like that! “Te an occupational disease” “sin” Corp. was established. In fact, Twas a newbie like you and “Tes lost some of its mystique for you. People ‘wl are involved with the production and administration of game become less informed about the game than the players Tr’s common.” “Yeah, I guess that's it Anything beyond the area of responsibility is rather hard to keep up wit joined in on the project shortly after it started.” “Who was the team leader?” “Tokuoka. He’ no longer with the company, but you say have heard of him.” “No, I haven't. But people come in and out of the game: industry pretey fast, dont they?” -hack//al_buster//resl_oyberconnect japan_co.,_Itd.//11 thack//al_buster//reel_cyberconnect Japan.co...Itd.//115//ehack // Al buster Real Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd. “Sure. High turnover is pare of the industry. Do considered morning; when he stopped for hs first meal, that think you made a mistake by joining this business?" “Not at all. What else would I be doing right n flipping burgers? No thanks, So tell me more about Tokuoka guy?” Ttook a sip of the instant coffee that had been sitti vas ‘noon; and if he went out co drink, that was ‘evening’ Didatt matter if morning was three in the afternoon and evening was actually dawn—thae was Tokuoka Times" “Wow, It does sound like he got out much." “Not really. I think the only women he talked to on my desk for hours. It not only looked like mud, it ta were those who worked here or anyone he encountered in like it, too. “He was pretty interesting, Eccentric.” restaurants, He was very asexual’ I took another sip of the coffee and wondered why I didn just send the kid out to make me a fresh pot, “The only time I remember him taking days off were the three days thac he became so sick with fever he was rushed to the hospital. Once the fever was down, even though he was still ill, he wene right back “How do you mean’ “Wall, speaking of Mipping burgers, he always ate same thing for dinner every night. A plain hamburger wit French fries and a Coke, Because I was just starting like you back chen, I was often the errand boy they sent McDonald’. Every night, he ate the same damn thing” “That is strange.” to work.” “How sad. Doesnt sound like he had any fun.” “That's just for starters, Back then, we didn't use “He did have one small vice, one indulgence that he cards like we do now. Instead, we were on Tokwoka Time” allowed himself. He smoked." I held back the best for last. “Without leaving the building” “Tokuoka used to pile up blankets and couch cushi and sleep on the floor in his office, Whenever he woke and climbed out of his makeshift sleeping bag, that “Jsrve chat against the law?" “Sure, and it's against company policy. But no one’s yoing to tell the man who's designing the company's shack//ei_buster//reel_cyberconnect japen.co.,.Itd.//11 shack//el_buster//real_cyberconnect jepan.co.,Itd.//117/1ehack // Al buster Real Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd. leaned by in my chair as I reflected on the past, “I still remember smell of those cigarettes. The aroma is practically burns premium software what he can ot cant di into my brain. He used to smoke this sweet Indones cigarette called Garam. Tt comes in a can. Have you st them before? Each can holds thirty-six cigarettes. Held g through a can a day. His office recked of the smoke and monitor would turn yellow within a month, They had keep replacing them.” pra “Yeah, he was pretty unique. Definitely not your typi CC Corp. employee. In fact, he only wore Hawaiian 0 work, and always listened to music through 2 set headphones. I didnt find oue till later chat he loved rock bands like Van Halen and Deep Purple.” “Really?” “OF course, you have to remember that the old tr C was a startup venture back then, Almost any com company with any kind of vision had someone like Tol working for them, Remember that everyone had lost jobs after Pluto Kiss, so they gathered together as mi shack/ai_buster//real_cyberconnect japan_co.,itd.//11 programmers, designers, planners, and artists as they could vo work on the localization process. OF course, it wasn't wally that localized since they were trying to start the same syseem in ten different languages throughout the world, The veal work, chat is, “In fact, Tokuoka used to scream about how difficult it was to combine all these different systems and link them up, but you cane tell upper management what they don't want to hear. They wanted something done and it was up to Tokuoka and others like him to make ie happen. And chats exactly what they did?” The kid shifted on his feet. 1 dhink he wanted to sit down, buc kept on going, "Back then, we dice worry about interoflice politics or getting promoted. We worked our asses off day and night just to get things done. Ie was hard work, but ie was fun, Eventually, it paid off 1 spread my arms indicating my office, but the kid didn't even notice “So what happened to this guy? Why did Tokuoka Jeave the company?” “How the hell do I know? One day he just Left. Probably because the company became too big” -hack//al_buster//roal_cyberconnect japan.co.,_Itd.//119//shack // Al buster Real Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd. The kid looked at me funny, I continued, “/ ALTIMIT OS was established and The World came is being, CC Corp, grew to epic proportions and, as you now leads the world in entertainment software. It became giant bureaucracy where individualism was no Jonger enc aged. I'm guessing Tokuoka’s eccentricities were no longer tolerable and he constantly cashed with management, I think he didnt feel properly thanked for all his hard work, “After all, the sales of the original Japanese vetsi of the game matched those of the English version. T wouldnt have happened if it wasnt for him, But no 01 respected him anymore; atleast not the new managers came in and took over when the company went pul Only the old crew, people such as myself, knew how ha he worked to accomplish what he achieved. That's part @ why [continue working here. I consider Tokuoka a me and because I respect his vision, I work hard to preserve World and make sure it continues to thrive and succeed?” Thad become caught up in my ovn story. While could tell the kid was impressed, I'm not sure he apprec everything I was telling him. -heck//ei_buster//real_cyberconnect jepan.co.,.Itd.//1 “Wow! That kinda helps explain why you're so involved, with the Cobale Knights. Because it helps you stay in touch wich the game,” “Not exactly. Let me ask you this. The World severely punishes cheaters, Do you know why that is?” “Well, because... they cheat.” “Tes a little more complicated than that. Let me explain.” I sighed. “In an offline game, a player can cheat all he wants and there are no consequences, Its no big deal because he's rally only cheating himself out of the full game experience. However, when someone cheats in an online game, it affects other players, Not only isnt it fair, bue it also destroys game balance “When someone cheats, part of The World shifis, and the more cheaters, the more the shift becomes uneven, until the entire game could be unhinged. Not only would that chive away players, bt that would drive away business, So its important, not only from a business viewpoing, but from a saming standpoint, o keep everything fur. We must not allow anyone to cheat. And that's why no matter how small the bug is, we must delete it. Because che system must run smoothly shaok//al_buster//resl_cyberconnect japen.co...Itd.//121//ehack // Al buster Real Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd. “That why the Cabal Kights were created ight” “Right. Bven though were part of system istration, unlike the GMs who assist and support play we debug, That's why we don't talk to or deal with player ‘We don't want them to know chere are flaws in the 5 ghosts in the machine. We operate behind the scenes.” “Wete kind of like an elice military unit?” “Yeah, sure.” I started flipping through the papers gave me, “We move in the darkness.” { Uh-huh." I had hoped to inspire him to work lon, hhours, not lecture him on company history. Instead inspiring him to work longer, I had lee him waste time, “So getting in touch with players is forbidden be ‘we might reveal our hidden mission,” q “As usual, you've missed the point completely. I'm s you'll remain an errand boy for a while,” “Huh?” “What's his?” I held up a piece of paper near d bottom of the stack he handed me, shack/ai_buster//real_cyberconnect jepan_co.,_Itd.//1 “That? Oh, that’s something I found on one of the bulletin boards, It sounded interesting so I copied it. T must Juve mistakenly grabbed it when I was bringing over your documents." Tread the paper Subject: RE: Please tell me about the Epitaph ofthe Tol “Message by: W. B. Yates Here is the Preface to the Epitaph ofthe Twilight Ya 10 ree the shadowed one Who guests forthe Twlght Drago Rumbles the Dark Heart, “And Helba, Queen of the Dark, tas raed finally her ary. Ageion, King of Ligh, bons Al the base of the rainbow thy meet. Against the abominable Wa athe they fe Alba’ lke bol shack//al_buster//real_cyberconnect jepan.co.,.Itd.//123//shack // Al buster Real Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd. Lights retiree dob al “Hes a pretty famous player. Hes been online ever Power—all now to droplets turned since the bera version.” in th tpl of Arche Koen “You mean he's one of the original test players?” Returns to nothing, “Must be, I remember seeing a posting by Yates back then, this world of shadows ones. regarding the web novel on which Fragment was supposed to ‘Never to return, tbe shades ow toe based, I remember he called himself a net poet!" Who quests for the Twilight Dragon “Poet?” “He's role-playing a minstrel in The World. Held On the night before wander into an event, sing an improvised poem, and post it evil spirits threaten the t con the BBS, He's a fairly talented writer. Regardless, this web WB novel is pretty well known.” q “Ts that right” “You'll easily find it if you do a search.” “Maybe I'll look it up later tonight T finished my coffee and stood a “Ts that where you're headed?” Looked up to see the kid holding out his hand exps ‘me to return the paper to him. “Where did you find this “lewas posted by a player who responded to a ques about the Fpitaph of te Twillgh, Sounds pretty int don't you think?” “No, I'm going to the nap room.” T looked down at the paper again. The message 3 dated yesterday. “W. B, Yates, huh?” “Lsort of recognize that name. I think I saw it w “Youre staying overnight again? Are you trying to create Watarai Time?” “At least I don't have to sleep on the floot: The bed in the was playing The World as a student.” np soom is pretty comfortable and it saves me the commute” hhack//al_buster//real_cyberconnect Japan.co..td//1 heck/el_buster//roal_cyberconnect japan_co.,.Ita.//125//ehack // Al buster Real Cyberconnect Japan Co., Ltd. Harald Hoerwick, He was the original programmer of the beta version of | “Damn, chief; you're putting in too many hours on thing” coe The World, the authority on AI research, and an all-atound genius. I never met him since he worked in the United Sates, but everyone who knows the history of CC Corp, and The World has heard of him. Originally, che game data of The World was stored in a blackbox folder to which Harald attached a lock. Few knew 1 walled the kid to the elevator and then turned down th aisle toward the nap room. Maybe he was tight. I had be working hard, But that was part of the job, always had be Turned off any unnecessary lights as I walked d the comidor, I hated to ace wae OF any kind, capes of the folders existence. In fact, only those who were deeply involved with the game's development and production had ever heard of it. When I learned about the folder, I had to sign a confidentiality agreement. I wasnit allowed to talk electricity. Part of growing up a conservationist, I guess, realized how loudly my footsteps echoed in the empt building as I walked across the floor, During the day never would have noticed the sound, but in the vacuum ambient noise, it sounded like thunder. When I arrived in the nap room, I shut the door about it ‘These were even rumors that it was a program chat automatically generated a functioning NPC. Now that turned out che lights, But I couldnt stop thinking abs was an idea worth contemplating; an NPC who talks and the Vagrant AL Her image haunted me in the dath behaves on its own, not by the distributed processing of T couldnt take my mind off her red dress and how the computer, That meant interaction between players turned into that fireball. T wondered, how did she come and NPCs would be no different than between players existed Could woracone have prograriened) hast themselves—or humans if chae’s even possible, Thar would when a name jumped into my head. truly be the ultimate game—the simulation of reality. -hack//ai_buster//real_cyberconnect japan_co..itd.//1 shack/al_buster//real_cyberconnect japan.co.,.It6.//127/1JE voice simulation and authentic-sounding dialogue we perfected, then you would be unable to determine if th Too bad Harald Hoeewick disappeared before the b version was released. That left a lock without a key. T didn't sleep very well the sest of the night. shack//al_buster//reel_cyberconnect japan_co.,Itd./126ada When I reactivated my PC from sleep mode, I could sce my newly redecorated home from che night before on the screen display, I winced at the pink, Lycoris still waited patiently, holding Albirco’s hand. Because she was an NPC, it meant nothing for her to wait through the hours of inactivity as my avatar sat with her. Fortunately, Hokuto was gone. She probably. left shortly after I did T tried again to log out, but couldnt. The situation hadn't been fixed, The bug, whatever it was, remained. T wondered how long this had been going on. Were other players locked into the game as well? Or did this haveehack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel Bue there was still much to be explained. How did she find me in thar datk dungeon? Why did her eyes remain shor? What were che ereasures T kept picking up with the something to do with Lycoris? After all, the situation been spiraling downward since she showed up. But how could the event affect the logout co Besides, in terms of actual game play, chere hadnt been ‘od file extensions? specific problems to speak of, Topened the chat window and checked the log. Be hadn't logged out, the previous night's conversation rem Whenever you get stuck in the middle of a game or ‘vent, ie important to search everywhere for the hidden clue, Usually, ies something you missed; something you secidentally passed by and didnt pick up. The solution is to tun through all the areas again and target everything until you find the lost piece of information. Only the place 1 wanted t0 go wasnt anywhere Te been before. Nevertheless, Holutor Wait. khot about me? flireo: Go plo outside. [ll disband the party. Good nisht. its where I decicled to go. T don't know why, but as I headed to the door, I Anattered co myself, “Let's go, Lycoris.” I checked the time, It was 8:45 a.m. Instead of starit at the flat screen of my PC monitor, I put on my F Instantly, everything became more real, Again, I leapt i the form of Albireo, He came to life. T switched back to first-person POV and walked 9. door. Without looking, Ikknew that Lycoris followed silent To my utter shock and amazement, she responded, "Where are we going?” I dropped the controller onto the floos. Quickly, I picked ‘cup and looked in Lycoris ditection, “What did you say?” Trealized that in order to clear the Lycoris event, L “Tasked, where are we going?” to complete the tasks. Mayhe then everything would re ‘This was too much, An NPC in yoice-chat mode who to normal. ould give an apparently unprogrammed response2! sheck//e|_buster//area.2.bad_angel//132// F//eres.2_bad_angel//133//ehack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel Though her eyes remained closed, her face was ti toward mine. T found my hands moist with sweat, No NPC I ever been able to chat like this before. This was too respons Hesitantly, I answered, “Were going to the area kg a5 Captive, Fallen, Angel! ” Q (Omega) Server Zone: Captive, Fallen, Angel The only place in The World with a snowstorm is the rea known as The One Sin. Te is also known as the Sealed. f Land—though sealed from what, no one knew. Some “Okay. Orca and Balmung will be there at nine!” players speculated that it referred to the angel who had been “What the £2" Before I could finish, Lycoris up her left hand toward the ceiling, A bright light fo a ring above us and my speaker suddenly vibrated scaled, Bat the existence of an angel wasnit confirmed in the Iptaph of the Twig, which became the background of the game world, such intensity, i¢ nearly buzzed off my desktop. We Does the seal need to be broken? Or should ie be swallowed up in the tunnel of light and teleported o protected? Why is the fallen angel in captivity? Ts the angel of my home. an enemy or an ally? There were too many questions and hot enough answers because Emma Wielant, who wrote the 2 he Ipiaph ofthe Twviligh, passed away. The epic was incorporated into the game before it was completed. Yet its influence, like J found myself in the midst of a violent snow: most of my screen covered with the white switls blizzard. What little I could make out seemed to be an! ‘te, spreads its roots and branches throughout The World. In many ways, its the mythology that defines the creation of this place. expanse through an eternal night. There was no backgro Tid been teleported. Jus as Td been teleported out of che music, only the wail of the wind, Divine Statue Room in the dungeon to my home, I suddenly found myself taken from iny home to the area I wanted to go. sheck//el_buster//erea.2_bad_angel//134// sheck//al_buster//ares.2_bad_engel//135//ehack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel ‘Though teleportation is used often in other was often set on high. Or maybe the shiver was caused by the unexpected voice I heard. “There you are.” | turned to see a shadowy figure emerging from che Iizzard. How did she get here? Ic was Hokuto. it isnt used in The World for travel between root and areas (though there have been many discussions on board about it being adopted in the future). The only to reach areas fiom the root towns is by passing tht Chaos Gate, But Lycoris was breaking all the rules of eee “Did you sleep wel last night, AI” she asked. Heorie alteteri ty a Her bikini was extemely out of place in the snowstorm. | opened my mouth to say something, but 1 was speechless. fbireo: Let?s aor Lucoris. r prised to see me?” Lycoris: Where ane we soins? Albireor bhat did vou sax? Lucorist I asked: here ore we soir? fibireot We're soins to the aren know ‘Coptives Follens érael.? ““Woyvhat are you doing here?" I finally stammezed. “Those two guys from yesterday, what were their names? Orea and Bollocks?” “Balmungy” I corrected. “Whatever. They said they were going to challenge an event here at nine o'clock, sight? I knew yould show up t© Jyelp them, Jus like you showed up at the last minute to help me. You may pretend to be all, ‘Oooh, I'm a loner] but you “Albireo?” Her scarlet-colored lips moved. "Yes!" . “Tes very cold, isnt ie2” The gie’s frosted breath instandly torn apare by the wind. Just viewing the a still come through at the last minute.” “And youve been waiting here?” to ambush ms, but T images made me shiver. Of course, the office ait condit managed to hold back those last chree words. shack//al_buster//aree.2 bad_angel//136// -heck//al_buster//erea.2_bed_engel//137//hack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel “T didn’t know when you'd return to your com T tried to ignore her, but already a buzzing pain was in real time, and I didn't want to stay up all night just see when you might return, So Twent ¢o bed, had a go night's sleep, and came hete when I woke up. T fi forming in the back of my brain. “T bet you want to ream up with them so you can ‘veteome this event heard them say it was the most difficult you'd be here. Pretty smart, huh?” ‘one in The World. You want a piece of it, don't you? C'mon, ccs aul ic?” “C'mon, say it, I'm che smartest girl in the wor “Told you before, Pl tll you again. Fm a solo player” Say it, say itt” “But you formed a party with me, righ? Because I'm the “Why do you think I came here?” I asked. exception.” “To help your friends.” “You are not the exception. Where do you get such “That's where you're wrong.” ideas?” Why did my head always hurt whenever I conversed “Hah? Then why are you here?” swith this iat? “To watch how ie ends.” | “—But you said so yesterc “Watch? You mean you're not going to help them?" "No, I didstt!” was her turn to be exasperated. “You lias! You said I'm an exception, that’s why you “L already told them yesterday I didn’t want to jo formed a party with me! You said it!'You said itt You said it” their party. Ie’ too late now.” Did L relly say su a hing? L urgently scrolled down the log. “You mean it's too late to tell them you chan your mind? Really, I don't understand why boys are Albireo: She's the only excertion ve stubborn, Can you tell me that, Al? Why are you, stubborn?” ever made. shack//el_buster//area.2_bad_angel//138// thack//el_buster//erea.2bed_angol//138//hack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel I did say ie “You also said you wanted to finish the Lycoris tell chem when they get here, ll do it. But that isn't why you sid i, was it, AR” with me and not the others! Don't you remember, AD” “OF course now” “Then let's re-form our party." T hit mute so she wouldsve hear my heavy sigh. Our Tcontinued scrolling with greater urgency, Albireo: You don't need to rerly. I in Whisrer Modes which meal only you con hear mes $0 Jus previous party had been dissolved after we separated. I went to the ment options and re-formed! our party. Just when I thought I was out, she dragged me back in. listen auietly. Lucoris is « “Yaaay! I think we'll be a great team. Oh, look, there's Wells it’s something He sh clear tosether without letti the others know about it. She couldn't see Lycoris until we were in the same group, though Lycoris never spoke or acknowledged Hokuto's presence “Wouldnt it be nice if Lyeo could talk” Wesuldn’ it be nce sf you couldn’? T answered her question anyway. “IE NPCs could communicate as well as players, then ‘She was right, What the hell was I thinking? again, I really wasnt chinking. Too much was rolling aro jin my brain to keep it all straight—Lycoris, Orca Balmung, the odd treasure. I was saying whatever it roo get Hokuto to shut up. IF only I knew what words Ine you wouldn't even need £0 be online. There would be no snow, because she was still talking? interaction with others, What would be the point of being online a all” “Then why do you play solo?” “Thope you're not going ¢o tell me it was just a excuse so T wouldn't ell your friends because if it was, chack//al_buster//at .ck//ai_buster//erea.2 bed_angel//141// 2.bad_engel//140//ehack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel “Tinterace with others. just prefer to take on challenges alone, I ike to test myself” “"Youite wrong. You dont play well with others at all” “Anyway, Lycoris is an NPC so it isnt possible for the weather has such a drastic effect on che game that it \wor't help otient you. Te was part of the added difficulty in challenging The One Sin. “AL, where'd you go? Where are you” T turned around. Hokuto was gone. I could hear her clearly, but I had no idea where she'd wandered off to. As to converse the way you and I do.” Playing offline dient sound like such a bad idea aft being saddled with Hokuto, “It’s almost nine, int 2” she asked. “Youre right. We should move.” “Move? Why?” “T have no intention of joining Orea’s party, T do Jong as we were in Party Mode, it didn't matter how far away she was, she would always sound the same. In other words, I couldn't use the sound of her voice as a clue to find her. T could only use my eyes. “Je’s coo hard to see in here. Jt must be a bug. This isn't want to bump into them in case they think I changed she was getting panicky. “Jes not a bug. It’s part of the specs. Dont turn mind. I just want to observe.” “Fine. We'll move.” “Tarn your chat to Party Mode, Otherwise, they'll our names when we speak to each other” i everything into a bug “Wait. Something's here. I'm going to sce what it is.” “No! Don't move!” I shouted. We moved through the whirling snow. It was A sudden burst of music blared over the speakers— difficul to see. “Stay close, Dont get lost.” “T'm right behind you,” she whined, I checked the map, but it was gone from my s. As far as I knew, this was the only area in The World something was happening. “Whoa, whoa, whoaaa!” Tnstinctively, I guessed what she had found: a magic portal. Ics faint light had probably lured her and when she -hack//al_buster//sree.2_bad_angel//142// snsck//el_buster//ares.2 bad_engel//143//shack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel got close enough to the portal, the event was activated, had unleashed the monsters. Hokuto shrieked and a second later I saw her gauge instantly change from geeen to red, She was dead. I wandered through the blinding snow for a long tt but eventually I found her, Hokuto’s shadow. Unfortunat unlike the real world, death wasn't an end, least of all to complaining. “Why aren't you doing something? This is awful. Ye need to save me.” “How can I save you? Youte already dead, That youre beyond saving” “Work some magic or something” “Right now Tm far more worried about fi whatever it was that killed . . £" I suddenly saw a behemoth of an ice creat charging at me, the snow concealing its presence unt shack//a|_buster//ares.2_bad_angel//144// was on top of me. I swung wildly, missed, then stepped backward to avoid its flailing claws and its teeth, I watched my health gauge diminish in chunks every time i hit, Considering it wasn't a boss, it was pretty damn powerful. Te took me nearly a minute to descroy it. If all the uindeslings were that tough here, T could see why the area remained unconquered. OF course, no sooner was the first, vanguished than another monster reappeared. Fortunately, this one only talked too much. “Hurry up! Resurrect me!” “Okay. Just stop screaming." I scrolled down my list of items until [found a reviving potion. “T cant believe you deserted me, Youre a lot stronger than I am. You're supposed to protect me. Hey, what are you waiting for?” “T changed my mind” “What?” “Te would be a waste of my reviving potion.” I closed the window on my sereen, “What are you talking about?” shack//al_buster/erea.2_bad_engel/145//ehack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel “At your low level, you don't have a chance against ‘monsters here. You'll be killed again in seconds. You mi 4s well remain dead, Ids better that way.” Actually, this was perféct. I didnt have to worry a protecting her every five seconds, “You cold-hearted bastard! she yelled, “Youite the one who pointed ie out with your ‘prote sme’ speech,” Besides, I hadnt deserted her, she was the one with the short attention span who couldn't stay focused enough, follow me. She deserved what she got. “No way! I'm not walking around as a shadow.” “You dontt have a choice. Now let's go!” Hokuto could no longer affect the game, but she still allowed to follow along and annoy me, She could char in Party Mode, so no one else could hear her. Just h ol’ me, ‘The weather slowed down my movement, so Tused talisman of speed to run and cover more ground across icy wasteland, Other than the portals, no other feld obj existed in this are, so it was hard to navigate, Without th sheck//el_buster//eree.2_bad_engel//148// Inap, Thad no idea of my position or direction, so 1 just ook my best guess and headed in a straight line. “Where are we going, AL” “We're heading into the center of the storm.” “Why?” “That's where the enemy will be.” T thought of how surreal this probably looked: a gitl in a red dress and a woman in a bikini running across the snowy plain. IF this were real life, we'd all be severely underdressed. “Have you visited this place before, Al" Why did she Juve to Keep calling me Al? “Yeah, once, I fought a boss in a different event here.” “Did you kill #2” “No? “So you ran?” “Not exactly.” “Then what happened?” “Twas killed.” “You mean even Al, the great warrior, occasionally cles2 “That's right” shack//el_buster//ares.2_bad_angel//147//shack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel “What happened?” “L hadnt come here to fight the boss, so T prepared. I wanted to scout the area and learn what I co ‘We kept moving as we talked and every once in a while, | scopped to check the direction of the wind. I knew the wind was blowing outward fiom the center, That's how I to defeat it later. Bue once a boss comes after you, you jtayed on eouceec Tea gay ts “Look, Al! A wall of ice” Emerging through our view was a towering mountain of ice looming before ws. Cut into its side was a narrow path thac led upward. We continued on the path, “Js this i? Is chis where the event takes place?” 1no choice but to fight” “Or fle.” “Twas going to, but I wanted to see if it had weaknesses first It didn't, None that 1 could find any ‘eid everything —differene kinds of weapons, spell all Wave categories of earth, water; fire, wood, thunde darkness, bur nothing worked.” “Maybe ic really is impossible to conquer?” “Tris” ‘When we arrived neat the top, the snowstorm came to an abrupt halt, We had risen above the clouds, though the sound of the wind still roared behind us, For once, I could early sce my surroundings as we emerged onto the top of an icy plateau. In the center of the clearing were Orca and “No, Ive seen messages on the boards that stated s damage was done, but no one said how. Maybe it was rumor. Anyway, fewer and fewer players have come her challenge the event because you can't challenge the crea Balmung facing off against a creature that was almost ¢oo monstrous to behold. “Ts that... 2” Hokuto’ voice tailed off “Yes,” Isaid, stating up at it, “That's The One Sin!” uuntil you've figured out a strategy to inflice damage of But chere must be a way to conquer it?” “How can you be so sure?” “Because it's like Orca saic, The World is a good Orca believed in it, So did J, shack//el_buster//area.2_bad_angel//148// shack//el_buster//area.2_bad_angel//149//ehack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel “All AU AI'Tes.... ies humongous!” ‘That was an understatement, Orca and Balmang dwarfed by the creature they fought. So great was its size, 4 On the other hand, knowing The One Sin's reputation, ‘maybe anyone they asked thoughe ie was a suicide mission, Kicher way, the two figures now stood together against the couldsit even be viewed on the entire screen, Its body, constructed of light and energy, resembl giant dragon. T fele an urge to jump in and help them, but T a giant ancient dinosaur, and light poured through i suppressed it indofinable form like a prism, j “They'ee not inflicting any damage," Hokuto shouted. ‘They were up against a Spectrum Dragon, 1 From this distance their damage and recovery points ‘The sounds of battle roared like mighty explosions grinding metal, “Orca! Balmung!” Hokuto shouted, but only I hear her voice, It was better this way; they didn't need distraction of unnecessary dialogue, "T didnit expect them to fight it without a third!” uttered in surprise were displayed over their characters. very single attack Orca and Balmung launched inflicted zero damage. Conversely, the multicolored breath attack of the beast shaved away theit hit points as if they were first-level characters “This creature has several types of attacks it can Iueathe on chem, Each one has additional side effects including paralysis, poison, which continues to clo damage “But you turned them down.” when the attack is over, or one that lowers their offensive or “L know, but I still expected them to find someone to help them out, Couldr't they find another player to j them?” q They knew The One Sin was considered invincible at the very least they should have attacked with a full p dlefensive powers. Worst of all, ies a ranged attack!” They were doomed. The creature was weakening them fom range before moving in for the kill. The beast’s tail suddenly lashed out from behind, siviking Orca a massive blow. sheck//ai_buster//area.2_bed_angel//180// shack//a|_buster//aree.2_bad_angel//161//ehack // Al buster “Look out!” Hokuto screamed. But it was too late, Orca was dead. Bat only for a split second. Balmung immediately use revive potion to resurrect his partner. Orca then dank Shee Revered Wine, which filly restored his health and stamina, “They're good,’ I couldn't help muttering co mys “Huh” “Orca intentionally allowed himself to be killed t0 g rid of the creature's side effects, It's as if he’s starting battle fresh.” Tewas a unique strategy, one Orca and Balmung seem prepared for. It was also a strategy a solo player such 4 myself could never use. The two clearly worked well with each other, usi vicious combinations, testing different strategies to see ho the dragon would respond. wasnt working. shack//al_buster//area.2.bad_angel//162//Area.2 Bad Angel ehack // Al buster She was tight. Maybe The One Sin could not be defeated, Maybe the event could not be cleared. But these thoughts clealy didnt enter the minds of the wo surongest swordsmen in The World. They continued to fight methodically, searching for weakness. So far, there was none, “This is hopeless. Why dont they run?” “Wait.” T witnessed a change in theie strategy. They stopped Suddenly, The One Sins flickering body pulled and its head lifted upward, high into the sky until I tile my POV to follow it. knew what was comin “This is bad.” q 7" “an” “This is the ateack that Killed me” In one sti inflicted enough damage to neatly wipe our my max number of hit points 1 watched in grim remembrance. The sound fol autacking 4 deep, vibrato tilling sound that intensified and grew “What are they doing? Are they stupid?” Hokuto volume, Then, the gigantic body slammed downward, Li an ron hammer hitting an anvil, sparks shot out as Balm disappeared beneath is mass. For the first time, Orca hesitated in his next move, was a costly mistake, paped, But the moment they stopped attacking, so did the creature, Silence followed. All sounds ceased. “I dont betiewe it? “What? Whac happened? Is ic a bug? No one’s moving” “They found a way to defeat it” ““What did they do2” “Nothing. They did nothing” The creature only reflected back the same level of aggression it received. The One Sin pounded Orca next. His hit poim dropped down to neatly 2ero, Then Bulmung emerged fom the carnage. “He survived)” I shouted. “But they still havent causeel any damage, They shack//el_buster//ares.2bad_angel//184// -hack//al_buster//eres.2_bed_engel//186//shack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel “Nothing?!” Hokuto said. "That stupid.” “The One Sin won't attack unless the players attad first? L explained, “What?” ‘The Spectrum Dragon remained immobile. I won cack Wave has a weakness. Obviously, water defeats fire, fire defeats wood, etc. If they counterattack the Wave's weakness the same moment it’s attacking, then they can inflict hefty damage!” “Awesome,” Hokuto whispered. 1 admired thei ability to zeason through the situation, T'n not sue I would have figured it out myself Finally, Orca moved. Breaking the silence, he fa an attack, Twatehed as they continued to attack and counterattack. These was probably only a brief moment when the Switching away from his sword, Orca released a wat counterstrike could inflict damage, but Orea and Balmung based spell against The One Sin, orchestrated thei onslaught beautifully, This was clearly a In response, the creature spewed a fire attack from: tueature that could never be defeated by a lone player. At mouth, the same time, a three-player party would cause too much, Ac the same time, Balmung flew into the air and sonlusion. The players would. probably have never noticed a water attack combined with his sword, The weapon sli straight through the creature's neck. Ie shuddered, For: first time in the batele, they scored damage, “That's it! The One Sins breath used the six di attributes of the Waves: earth, water, fire, wood, th What was causing damage. Only two characters could have nnnaged to defeat The One Sin. Of course, the creature wasnt dead yet! “The two warriors continued to fight; only now they had a lunce. They must have been frantically communicating their and darkness, It responds with the same type of at tacks vo cach other over the Internet, Bach strike precisely used against it. In other words, it mirrors the ateak followed the one before it, Their timing was perfect. shack//al_buster//area.2_bad_angel//186// sheck//al_buster//aree.2_bad_angol//157//ehack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel “Something's below us. What is it, what is ie?!” Hokuto screamed. Finally, Balmung let out a savage cry as he dealt de grace—a streaking flame of light flew from his han ‘The One Sin’s final 65,536 hit points disappeared. T could now sce a figure below us. Ie was as if someone With a beastly roar, the creature fell onto che icy i Juul been imprisoned in the ice. Then I noticed che wings. “An angel?” I muttered aloud. “Angel?” Hokuto said. Unbound, the angel spread its wings and flew upward “They won," Hokuto whispered in awe, “They took down the legend,” I added. ‘The seven colors of the prism dragon spread the area, creating a mist as the monster's body melted from its former prison. Pethaps it was going to heaven, dissolved until at last it disappeared. Then a new Prthaps it had just escaped hell. Regardless, it was clear that appeared. Orea and Balmung had conquered The One Sin. “Alt Look!” Hokuto shouted. 4 “What does it mean?” Hokuto asked. Iwas at a loss. The place of never-ending darkness “don't know" vanquished. For the first time ever, dawn arrived, “AR” The angel rose past us and disappeared into the sky, Pea but as ic did, it pulled off the veil of snow from this world, revealing its true landscape. Now that the snow was As the sunlight flooded in through a crack in wall, both the datkness and the ice melted away—incl gone, this area was no different from anywhere else in The Worle. the ice we were standing on! Suddenly, we were sus “The map’s back!” Hokuto sounded relieved in the mist itself as there were no solid surfaces. We ¥ By using che Faity’s Orb I could tel that the dungeons floating in the ether. Jayout was returning to normal. shack//al_buster//aree.2_bed_engel//158// sheck//el_buster//eres.2.bad_engel//160//shack // Al buster Area.2 Bad Angel “Clearing the event must've have changed this feathers falling from the sky. Then I found it. A single red feather drifting in the distance, That had to be the one she vas talking about, All the other feathers were white, but this ‘one bore the same crimson color as her dress. 1 quickly ran toward it and picked it up when I was within range, back: “Yeah, but we didn't clear it” “Some events can only be performed once, Even ame, The One Sin, implies is a singular event, No one: ‘can ever repeat this adventure.” “Wow! That means the angel we just saw...” “.cwill never be seen again, We were lucky to be Youtve obtained eve.cul! when it happened.” Suddenly, the angel’ beautiful feathers began to flat down from the sky, Even though the angel had Jong si disappeared, it left a wake of feathers behind, ‘This time I wasnte surprised to see the same file eatension. “Please give me the eye.cyh" Lycoris whispered. “Please find the feather, Albireo.” It was Lycoris, Unlike the others, I finally understood this file. Ie was hadn't spoken in some time. “It’s my feather.” ‘The rain of feathers thae danced about us meaningless background images, just like the snow: Te anything thar could be targeted. “Are you sure?” “Yes, Albiteo. Find my feather.” This was going to be difficult. Quickly, I look around, trying to target any of the hundreds of fut {00 obvious, “Please give me the eye.cy," she repeated. But what did this have to do with The One Sin? And why give the files such basic names? “"What happened, A’ Why did you run off like that?” Hokuto asked. Tignored her for the moment. Instead, turned to Lycoris and using the trade command, handed her the feather. shack//al_buster//aree.2_bad_angel//160// thack//al_buster//erea.2 bad_engel//181//shack // Al buster “Thank you, Albireo” she said. Just as I suspe ‘once she received the file, she opened her eyes. 4 “You can see me?” I asked. “Yes. Thank you, Albireo.” Lycoris smiled broadly, Because I was flagged by Lycoris for this event, I probably the only one who could target the feather. I'm st that’s why she brought me here. Suddenly, the intense vibrating seturned and a halo light surrounded us. At least this time T wasnt as surprise Hokuto, on the other hand, started to freak out. “Albieeo, what the hell is —" her voice was cut off the sound of Lycoris’ spell. Once again, she teleported 1 aay. sheck//el_buster//ares.2_bad_angol//162//Allbirco stretched out across the top of a slight hill in a grassy field. T stared into the sky watching the stars ewinkle 4s [listened to the delicate whisper of the wind between the grass blades. “Flow do you lie down like that?” Hokuto asked, “The command is ‘/lie!” Te was a new command programmed in the latest upgrade. Hokuto joined me in the grass. E (Sigma) Server Zone: Murmuring, Night, Alchemy 1 donit know why, but Lycoris teleported us from Captive, Fallen, Angel to this rather ondinary place. I canehack // Al buster Area.3 Alchemy only assume that because Hokuto and I formed a pare She activated a magic portal, which mobilized a mob Lycoris teleported Hokuto with us. Only Hokuto was ‘of goblins, launched a series of swift attacks and cut them new to the game, she didnt even question the teleportati clown. Instead, she was only obsessed with one thought. “Didnt I just cell you not to do that?” “When are you gonna resurrect me, AL” “Oh, relax. You worry too much.” “Not yet.” “Maybe I wouldnt worry if you stopped acting so “Why not scupid” “Because.” “Tm sorry” Her character began sobbing, Te was a “Because why?” command she used to try 10 elicit sympathy, It wasnt “Because I said so.” working. Thad a feeling she could go on like this forever, “Why dont you watch where you're walking instead of “You know I'll keep bugging you like this until bring me back” Teas uncanny how she seemed to sead my mini, wasting time activating emotions?” “You sure are bossy, All” “Yes, Lam.” “This is against my better judgment, but allright. “Ooh, you've changed your attitude,” she mocked. “Yaaay!" She practically squealed in delight. T hit commands and she returned ftom the land of the dead, “Whatever you do, don't wander around, There “You want me to return you to your shade status?” T heard soft laughter behind me. I turned and saw Lycoris, She was no longer holding my hand, Instead, she moved freely through the grass, almost playfully. “Hey! She opened her eyes,” Hokuto said as she ran probably a lor of hidden creatutes or traps that would low-level character like you in an instant.” “Hey, what's this?” cover to Lycoris. -hack//a|_buster//aree.3_alchomy//166// shack//el_bouster//erea.3_elchemy//167//ehack // Al buster Area.3 Alchemy While Hokuto was distracted, I thought about extension code, I was surprised I hadn't noticed it b ‘The file extension was simply the ftse three letters of inissing element of deama. There wasnt a clear-cut scenario in place. And why make the quest for items written in code? The real question was, who programmed and arranged rname, The file names were just written backward, but ie this scenario? And mote important, why? the palindrome oy for me to understand that. The other ‘My head nas spinning. T found, “eciovecyl” and “rae.cyl were her voice and I didn't even care about the event itself, but I wanted to respectively. I was so convinced it was a bug in the syst had failed to see such a simple code, “All Did you know Lyco can sec?" “Yeah” “When did that happen?” The real question was, wy was it happening? What icmean for an NPC to be searching for its voice, hearing, sight? This quest didn't make any sense, NPCs are prep: preprogrammed characters with simple, direct functiod sve it chrough because it was so irregular. Just as Orca and Balmung had to take on the greatest challenge they could find, Thad to see my way through this mystery. If it was a bug, I needed to learn more about it. Bugs are attractive to some players. However, they throw off the balance of the game. It depends on the glitch, but some bugs will give a player unlimited money; others will allow players t0 attack someone without being hit (if a glitch allows someone to, say, hide in a wall, something normally impossible), Most players will repost bugs, but some players Jove to exploit them. In the interest of good game play, it's important to report all bugs. Otherwise, if cheating became rampant, the game would lose its appeal. No one would wane to play anymore. “Albireo”” Lycoris said. They react to situations, they dontt create them. But Ly ‘was responding as if she had a will of her own. The entire situation was a conundrum I could to fathom, Byen the quest didnt make sense, Searching for Ly senses seemed too existential for a game, But there was shack//al_buster//erea.3_slchemy//168// -heck//al_buster//erea.3_alohomy//189//shack // Al buster Area.3 Alchemy “Yes, Lycoris” in your gear, you'll get something better, probably with a “Follow me." She spun around and started higher defensive value.” “Really? For free? It doesn't cost anything?” “Yeah, Sometimes, depending on the time of day; you'll gee something of lower level but that won't happen here. Try and target the spring, and chrow in an item according to the ‘Was this part of the event? Or was she making real-ti decisions as she gathered information through her and ears while communicating with her voice? Was interacting with players? Ie didn’t seem possible. “Lyco, wait upt” Hokuto shouted, ‘We both chased Lycoris across the wasteland until stopped before a spring “What's this?” Hokuto asked. “Tes a phantom spring” “A what” “You donit have much protective gear, do you?” I message,” “But if I undress, will I be shown naked?” “No” Doesn't she realize she's practically naked already? “Albireo”” Lycoris was calling me. “Yes?” Lycoris stood at the edge of the spring, her back ‘oward me. Inthe dim starlight, she appeared very small and. looking at the minimal amount of clothing she wore, frail “Not really.” “Then it doesn't matter. Just take it off.” % “What do you mean?” “Can I count on you?” she asked. Before I could answer, Lycoris threw her body into the “Can T count on you to see this task through?” “Take ic off? Are you asking me to undeess? Just thought, you are sexually harassing me!” “My headache was returning “When you throw your equipment into the spring, spring. She disappeared beneath the water without so much as a splash or a ripple. The program wasnt prepared for such an action, get something better in return,” I explained. “If yous hack//al_buster//aree.3_alohemy//170// shack//el_bbuster//erea.3_alchemy//171//shack // Al buster “What did she do that for?” Hokuto yelled. No sooner did she disappear than a spring demo popped up in her place, “What the hell is thar?” Hokuto eed. “Ies a spring demon,’ I replied. “This is creepy!” She was referring to its large tear-drop eyes and nose, “Did you drop a golden axe?” asked the spring “Or this silver axe?” The standard reply came ap on my display (Gold Axé Silver Axe, or Neither), but this should only have occurred ‘when equipment was dropped into the spring. This time th demon was referring to Lycoris, I selected: Neither, The spring demon app troubled. nN q a "Te is impossible for me to deal with an item at hi ( wh level.” x i) This was one of the demon's possible responses if the item that was dropped in was already too powerful. “As an apology, let me give you this” the dl continued. shack//el_buster//area.3_slchemy//172//shack // Al buster Area.3 Alchemy obtained an item. When I reversed the name of the item, J couldit help but let out a slight gasp. “Hes gone. That demon’s so stingy he didn't even. ime upgrade my gear!” Hokuto stared into the water; but demon was gone. “Albireoy” Lycoris whispered. She stood by the spri appearing the same as before, “Ah! There you are, Lyco,” Hokuto said. I pondered che fact thae her clothes and hair were dry because there wasn't a program to deal with such ‘change in character's appearance, q OF course, that didat mean anything. Everything hhad believed about The World seemed to be changing ‘minute, How much did T really know about this game? convictions had changed since I met this litle git! in the dress deep in the dungeon. “Albireo” she whispered again, -haek//el_bustor//erea.3_alchemy//174// T stared into a field of twinkling stars. They looked so real. T could see more stats on my sereen than T ever could outside the corporate office building. Turned to my right and saw Hokuto lying next to me, She used the command I'd taught her. “This is great” she said. “L know it’s just a game, but it feels 50 seal" “Yeah.” “Bat it makes me wonder. Do you think it’ a little sick to be playing video games first thing in the morning?” “As long as you realize it might be unhealthy, you'll be fine. Tes when you prefer to play the game over anything else that you need help” “You mean a crip?” “Yup” She was referring to the crippled players, chose who do nothing but play every chance they get. “AL she asked tentatively, “aren't you a kind of a cxip?” thack//elbuster//erea.3_alchemy//178//shack // Al buster Area.3 Alchemy “You shouldnt say something like that to someone “Sorry, bad joke.” just met.” “You're an odd man, Albireo. But 1 like you.” “Youle tight, I just, everything here is so beautif, “Even though T'm bossy?” i not real. Tes not like outside.” “Normally, if a stranger chose to lecture me over “What's so great about the outside world? I have no something as frivolous as an online game, Til be annoyed, ‘where you live, but here in Tokyo the airs so smoggy you she said, “But I doste feel that way with you.” barely breathe. Every cay I have to deal with traffic, pollo “Why noo” noise, exime, violence, and corruption, and you cant do “Because you're my teammate” thing to change it. At least here, there is comfort, At least he Hokuto typed “/smile.” ‘we can look up at a beautiful starry night, At least here, “Hey” she continued. “Your eyes are like the stars” don't have to worty about polities and war and corruption? “Are you trying to flatter me?” “What about the bags?” she asked. “Dont they co “No, its true, 1 didnt notice till now, but ies so the computer system?” j obvious” "The Cobalt Knights fight to eliminate any bugs. “Do you know why I did that” fight against corruption. They do their best to keep “To look cool, right?” system running smoothly.” “Do you know where the name Albiteo comes from?” “You sound proud of them.” j "Umm ... no.” “And you sound like a philosopher” j “es the name of a magnitude-three star in the “Llike to think of myself as more of a poet.” constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. It looks like a single star “But you dont know it if you look with the naked eye, bue when you look through “What” a telescope you can see that it’s actually a binary stax” shaok//ai_buster//area.3_alchemy//176// shack//ei_buster//area.3_elchemy//177//ehack // Al buster “What's chat?” “Two stars spinning around each other. One sapphire, the other topaz.” Like your eyes.” “Exactly. Albiteo is considered one of the most bes ‘iful binary stars in the sky. IVs called the jewel of the Mi Way.” “In other words, you're just trying to be cool.” “Have you read Kenji Miyazawa Ni Tran tthe ‘The very first place the erain stops at is Cygnus, the Sw ‘There, the two stars of Albireo ate described asa device me luring the speed at which water runs along the Milky Way” “You put a lot of thought into this, didn't you?” “Sure did.’ “Three days! worth?” “Uh-huh. Just trying t0 be cool.” “Spending three days on a name is definitely cool” Hokuto said. “But that's okay, Al. I still like you!" looked to the left and saw Lycos lying on the o side of me, Watching her now, she seemed like any 0 player character, shack/ai_buster//area.3_elchemy//178// Area.3 Alchemy ““Albiteo,” she repeated over and over again, because I still hadnt given her the “cyl” file from the spring demon. Now that I knew the code, I knew what she would gain the moment I gave i t0 her I typed in “/stand” so T could walk, “Where ate you going?” Hokuto asked, "es time to resolve the Lycoris event.” “Yeah? Then I’m going with you!” was surprised. “You want to come?” “Aerie we teammates?” Thesitated. Then I realized shed come this far with me, Besides, she was the only other person who knew of Lycoris’ existence. “Okay. Lets go back to the root town first” “Sate, Um... one thing ... how do I stand up?” “You can stay sight where you are!” selected the gate-out command and we were instantly enclosed inside a tunnel of light, “Albireo,” Lycoris continued to whisper, “Albiteo ..! shack//ai_buster//aree.3_elchery//179/!‘The setting sun shone weakly over The World, while the lake's waters continuously rippled. “Where ate we, AD" Hokuto asked, “Wes the Hidden, Forbidden, Sacred Zone.” Standing over the stone bridge, I surveyed a solemn church on an island in the middle of a lake, A Delta) Seever Zone: Hidden, Forbidden, Sacred Te was quiet. There was only the sound of our footsteps, rnone of the usual background music. Itmade this place feel somehow incomplete.ehack // Al buster Area.4 Memory “Why do you keep taking me to such strange Hokuto asked. “Why does this place seem strange to you" “Look at the bridge. It's useless.” T looked back and noticed the bridge, which we gated onto, ended in the middle of the lake. Ie di connect to the other side. “ suppose that's where the area ends.” “Buc it ruins the illusion of the game.” Tn The World, each physical area has to have bordets there's only so much memory and programming that can into any section. Usually, the maps have natural bot ‘mountains, impassable water, or thick vegetation —sor that looks like pare of the organic environment. Even here, cteators could have designed che bridge to appear to cross the other side, while having some obstacle preventing us ‘moving all che way over the bridge, Instead, ic ws sheared 1 noticed Hokuto looking around, raking in the Looking down myself I noticed our charactets! shadows the ground. The perpetual sun in chis area meant it was dusk ot dawn. Ie was hand to tell without any change, H shack/el_buster//area.4.memory//184// there was one clue, In the real world, most churches have their entrances on the west side of the building and the altar on the east IF the designers had held trne to that idiom, then it ‘meant it was morning, On the other hand, this place was taken from the Epitaph of the Twilglt, which has nothing to do with the religion of the teal world T walked toward the church, “Wait up, All” Hokuto called after me. I could hear the sound of her approaching footsteps, [also noticed our three shadows stretched out before me. Lycoris continued by my side. Coming here was the frst time I gated us somewhere without Lycoris teleporting us. Yet she followed along quite willingly The stone church félt ominous silhouetted against the light of he stn, Ie created a gloomy atmosphere. “Joe, what a dark places" Hokuto said, “How come there's no map?” She was right. The field map wasnt displayed on the screen. That didn't make sense here. In Captive, Fallen, Angel, not having a map was part of the challenge of conquering the event, But here? shack//al_buster//area.4.memory//185//ehack // Al buster I stood before the front double doors. The door the right was half open, As soon as I stepped across threshold, the sound of pipe organ rose up to meet ‘The sound grew stronger once I entered, A long service hall stretched before me, its 6 cross vaulted. The marble floor had a greenish tint a diamond-shaped pattern. A penclalum swung back forth marking off time. Looking around, I noticed other pendulums forming a perfect square. Tick-tock, tick-tack. "This isa sacred place in The World.” “Why is it sacred?” “Because its taken from the book. Ie’ also quite anig in that there are no monsters, dungeons, magic por anything like thac” “You mean nothing happens here.” “Have you heard of the Epitaph of the Tiviligh?” “Um?” Cleaely she hada’. “Ics an epic that was used as the basis for the backgr of the game world, Ic isthe foundation of the story.” “Who wrote it?” she asked. shack//el_buster//area.4.memory//186// Area.4 Memory “A German woman named Emma Wielant. She posted i om her website.” “You mean she didn't have a publishes?” “T donit chink so. But it was still very popular!" “"Whar kind of story is 42” “Tes supposed to be a battle between spirits and demons, I believe the forces of light are fighting agninse the evil waves of calamity that could lead to the destruction of the world. I think the main characters are two half spities and a human who search for the Twilight Dragon prophesied to save the world.” “You dont sound like you really know what ies about” “The original version is lost. The beta version of The ‘World was released in May 2007. By the time the test on the beta version was completed in July, the rumor began to spread that the game was based on a web novel” “Emma's book.” "Right!" “You've been playing this game since it was a heta version?” “Maybe T'm a cripple after all?” I said. Lmemory!/187/1ehack // Al buster Area.4 Memory She laughed. “Emma's site had been shut down long before sh rumor started," I continued. “Why was ic shut down?” “Emma Wielant had passed away by then.” He “T gathered everything I could get my hands on abor her or her book. Erom what I learned, Emma disappe from the online world around 2004 or 2005. Ar the ver} latest, she was gone by December 24th, 2005. Do you ina the significance of that date?” “That's when something destroyed the Internet, right “Right. The Pluto Kiss vieus. For seventy-seven, around the globe, all commercial activities that relied om th Internet ceased. It was a huge blow to the world’s ec Governments, financial institutions, transportation. system businesses —everything stopped working, Data was corrup and released, rains collided, airplanes crashed, it was apocalypi Even the Pentagoris computer, which were thought to maint pecfect security, fell victim. When they went offline, ic cause the miltarys automatic retaliation system to begin a countdo shack//al_buster//ares.4_memory//188// since the computers thought Washington had been destroyed, If che network hadint restarted when it did, the world would have been desteyed in a nuclear holocaust. And do you know ‘who the perpetator of this evil virus turned out to be?” “A cen-year-old kid” “That's tight: Figures he lived in Los Angeles, Nothing. good ever comes from that city.” “Yup” “Most personal computers were also damaged. The smount of lost data is unfathomable. I was one of the victims? “What happened?” “lost my neatly finished dissertation that I had spent months working on.” “Didnt you keep a backup?” “Ido now! Hokuto laughed. She clearly enjoyed hearing about my misery. “Anyhow, prior to Pho Kiss, people suffered viruses and worms all the time, Today that’s unimaginable because of ALTIMIT OS” hhack//al_buster//area.4_memory//189//shack // Al buster Area.4 Memory “Tr sounds awful.” “Anyway, that's why there aren't any copies of the Fla of the Twilight. Te was lost because of the virus and probabl Emma's disappearance.” “Weren't there any hard copies?” “Apparently, Emma's site was set up t© prevent peop! from saving, printing, or copying the pages. IF there was a copy, she was the only one who ever saw it. The only other ‘would have been to transcribe every word of it by hand?” “That sounds tedious. No one would bother to that. Especially when it was online all the time.” “Right. It was five to visit and read, so why bother” "So it’s lost?” “Maybe not. Apparently, there was a passionate someone who actually transcribed and translated the into English. Whoever it was must've saved a hard c because that’s why we have Fragment, which we used in thi Dota tests.” “So who translated it?” “Who knows? Someone online, Or maybe a group of people, Because we dor't know, Fragment lacks authenticit -hack//al_buster//aree.4_memory//180// ‘Who knows if the English translation was even based on the original work by Emma Wielant? And if it is, who knows how accurate the translation really is?” “You mean it could be wrong?” “Translation is a very imprecise process. Inevitably, changes must be made to accommodate the audience and cultare that the text is being translated for. Accuracy isn't always as important as relevancy and, in this case, scorytelling” “How can it be imprecise? I mean a tree is a tee, right?” “Yes, but watch any Hollywood movie on DVD. If you watch the dubbed version and combine it with the subtitles, you'll see a perfect example of how dialogue can turn out to be so different in the same context, Not to mention the occasional bad translation. How often have you watched a film and thought that whae theyre saying doesn't even make sense?” “Yeah, that’s true. Do you speak English?” “Some.” “So you probably see translating mistakes all the time.” hnack//e|_buster//erea.4.memory//191//ehack // Al buster “Sure, sometimes. But they're not always mistakes. F example, a joke in English might nor translate because of the difference in culture or language. Some words so the same, such as bare or beat, yet they have two differe meanings. But just because two words sound the same in 0 Tanguage, doesn't mean they will in another. “Humor often plays with these subeeties chat sim, canit be captured in direct translation. So instead d translator will try to keep the context of the scene, change the way it’s written to keep it interesting for the readers, Otherwise, if it was kept exactly the same, it mi not even be readable!” “Youite right.” “Bat if the translator goes too far, then the origi intention gets wiped out, That's not good for either reader or the original waiter. Words are very delicate. that in mind” “[ never thought about this before!” “Anyway, it’s said that Emma's original manuscript only a first draft, Who knows what a final version mi have looked like, Authors make big changes along the way. shack//el_buster//erea.4_memory//192// Area.4 Memory fact, Kenji Miyazavia’s Nigh Train t the Stars underwent three revisions; the final draft is hardly recognizable compared to the first draft, 1s kind of like an upgraded program.” “Really? There are three versions of Night Tin?" “Actually, [ think there are four versions, Miyazawa ddidnte gain wide recognition until after his death. T chink all the different deafis have been published at one time or another. “That's so sad that he never knew how much people loved his stories” “Kenji Miyazawa led a good, albeit short, life. He was a teacher who wrote on the side and self-published his, books when he could. He loved to write children’s stories and poems. After he died, when he was only thirty-seven, different editors published different versions of his story!" “You mean they changed! it?" “They had to, The original was incomplete. Bur some editors did a good job, and others didi. Ie all subjective. The point is, pinning down the original version of the Fpteph isn't as simple as youd imagine, Without an original hard copy, it's anyone's guess as to what Emma's original intent was. Adding shack//al_buster//eree.4_memory//193//shack // Al buster Area.4 Memory to the difficulty is the fact that any copy is computerized, there's no handvvriting that can be analyzed.” “Just like some teachers won't accept typewritten pa because they cant be suce if the students did ie chemselves just downloaded something they read from the Internet!” “Some people like to brag that they've read the origi bar no one can be sure of that.” “But you said The World is based on the Epi we “So how did they read it)” she asked. “CC Cosp. apparently receives thousands of cach day asking that same question.” “And theie answer is?” “They never respond.” “Why nor?” “"Well, we have to go back for a moment. The Eng version of the Epitaph begins with a scene at the ‘Navel Lake! That's where we are now” { “Navel?” “Te means center, I know its odd phrasing, but that’ it was translated, I cant help it. Anyway, the original story sheck//el_buster//aree.4.memory//184// so powerful that even the story fragment still drew people in. I ‘know ie worked on me, 1 was totally imsmersed in’The World and wanted to visit it i it was at all possible. That's what inspired this place, Well, not just chs place, but the entire game. “T know when I was younger, I would cake the different scory fragments and try to piece them together into a more coherent story. Ieven tried to learn more about Emma Wielant so I might understand the world better than anyone else”” “Wow! I wonder if Pd enjoy reading the Fpitaph” “T donit know” “T thought you said i was fascinating” “Ie is, Bue it’s also very heavy.” “"You mean it’s thick?” “Not exactly. Well, it is, bur that’s not what I meant, The content is very heavy. Ies not for everyone, I'm not sure it would sell very well if it were released. Even J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy was only read by a small number of devoted fans in Japan before they turned it into a movie!” “But hasnt the Fpityph become equally famous because of the game?” -hack//al_buster//area.4.memory//196//ehack // Al buster Area.4 Memory “Sure. But you don't need to be a fan of the story to b a fan of the game. The two are different, And yet, they'e same. [cart help but think that Emma would be gratified know that her story lives on and changes daily.” “That is a rather sweet chought.” “She's been immortalized, even if most of the pla hhave never heard of her. The images from her imaginati will live on.” We were now in the center of the church, “Please, Albiteo.” Lycoris was standing behind me, “Fey, Lyco spoke?” Hokuto was surprised. “You haven't noticed?” “Noticed what?” “Voice chat automatically gets switched in any ch from Patty Mode to Talk Mode.” “Why does it do that?” “Tvs not permitted to hide anything before God!” turned my attention to Lycoris. “I brought you here reason,” “Al, whats going on?” Hokuto looked, puzzled, didnt know about the file extensions. shack//el_buster//aree.4_memory//196// “Do you really want what I obtained from the spring demon?” I asked. A beam of light from the upperstory window fell squarely ‘on her face. She appeared almost heavenly as she looked up at ‘me with wide-eyed innocence and slowly lifted her hand while repeating the phrase shed been whispering to me for hours: Lucoris: Please: Albireo. Please sive me the women cul. a2. “Do you remember now?" I asked. “Albirey Perhaps she remembered this .. Lycoris was stunned. °@e I saw something move in the lower corner of my perspective. Instinctively, I followed the movement. I couldn't believe what T saws sheck//al_buster//eres.4_memory//197//ehack // Al buster Area.4 Memory ‘Te was the gil, Her image was reflected on the smooth, polish surface of the floor. She was floating above us, near ceiling. Somehow, shed escaped being deleted. “She's above us!" I shouted. The knights, nor expecting danger, were slow to rea She wasn't, She headed for the door, “Cover the doon!" I ordered, “Cover all the exits!” ‘The knights were reacting too slowly. She was going’ escape. I only had one chance, I placed my target over hi and toggled the debug command. Luckily, she was still range, I swung my spear, ‘There was the familiar bright flash of shite light enveloped the girl “Twanted to wait for the right moment for you to rememb me, Lycoris. Do you remember now? You asked for ‘memoty, and I gave it to you, But you don seem very hap about ic” q -hack//al_buster//eres.4_memory//198// “Why are you doing this, Albireo?" “Dont you remember, Lycoris? Maybe you shouldn't have shed your memory when you segmented the last time we met” Targeted Lycoris and selected the debug command. “Does this mean I will be." “Deleted” | finished her thought. “Aly” Hokuto shouted. “What is it?” “Why are you pointing a weapon at Lyco? You're not going to attack her, are you” “Tam?” “Why?” “To resolve the event.” stood poised with Wotan’ spear pointed directly at het: Ir had only been three days since we were in this same situation. The last time we faced off like this, T was using a different avatar, I was the Captain of the Cobalt Knights. Only this time, Lycoris wass'e going to escape. “Youre going to clear che event by killing Lyco?” “That's right!” shack/al_buster//area.4.memory//199//ehack // Al buster Area.4 Memory “That's horrible!” “Tr cant be helped. It's part of the event.” I couldne tell Hokuto that I was a member of Cobalt Knights and a debugger, Tt would be bi company protocol. As far as she’s concerned, this will ll part of the Lycoris event. “I dont understand. Why are you doing this? Why you need to kill her?” “Youd have to ask whoever designed the ev Hokuto’? jaybe it's a bug” She had no idea how accurate “ifs what needs to happen to resolve everything” “No! I won't let you.” “The only way to stop me is to kill me, Do you this you could do thar, Hokuto?” “Why would I want co?" “IF you dont like it, then you should leave the pasg This event has nothing to do with you anyway.” “That's not true. I'm part of this. I can see Lyco whe no one else can.” heck//el_buster//area.4_memory//200// “Leave the party and she'll disappear” “But that’s just it, We are a party. Were teammates. All three of us” “Not any more.” “But I chought you were trying to save Lyco"” “Twas only trying to solve the event.” “Bue she held your hand for so long. Doesnt chat mean’ anything?” "She's not a real character. She's not a player. She's an NPC and this is an event.” “Were you just playing this out so you could eventually kill her?” “No one knows how an event will end. But once I stare an event, no matter how terrible the ending might be, T always clear it!" “This is monstrous. You cant kill hes.” “Ym not killing hes;” I sighed. “I'm just deleting hex It was the sole reason I entered The World with my own character—to hunt down the AL. Only I couldn't destroy her uncil we had every piece of her back in place. She escaped by segmenting herself into different parts of sheck//al_buster//area.4_memory//201//ehack // Al buster Area.4 Memory the system, Now that she was whole again, it was time finish her. OF course, I was lucky. The only reason she didi recognize me was because she gained her memory last. wondered about that when [first encountered het: Obyi at that point she couldnt sce, bur even when she regained eyes, she still didnt recognize the Captain, “You have to understand, Hokuto, sometimes in course of the game, you encounter Vagrant ATs?” I ma to restrain Lycoris with a special function of my speam “These Als don't operate normally, Thetefore, they must be destroyed.” “You mean she’s a bug?” “Yes, There was another such Vagrant that once here as well. He was known as the ghost of the church, The characters are anomalies. They need to be properly handled.” “What kind of ghost” “The behaviors of the Als are irrelevant in the They end up causing confusion and occasionally inte: with the program server. They'e a unique form of glitch.” “But how can Lyco be a bug?” sheck/al_buster//ar -4_memory//202// “Who knows? Maybe she was some kind of incomplete ‘upload, maybe it was a mistake during an upgrade. In any event, she exists, but she has no purpose. Everything in the game has to serve a purpose, whether as an event or some addition to The World, Thae’s the way it must be. The players demand it” T really didnft know how Lycoris was created, That was a mystery I had often pondered. Some people believed that hackers. purposefully placed such characters in. che system, but that seemed unlikely. An AI, especially an AI as advanced as Lycoris was beyond even the highest level CC Corp. programmer's ability. Her ability to respond and speak were far t00 fluid for any program yet devised. Maybe something like her could be created in another ten years, but right now, it was impossible, Not even the great Tokuoka could create something as advanced as Lycoris. In the end, it wasn't my concern, IF it didi serve the game, or worse, caused problems, it had to be deale with, Te was that simple, “IE iv’ a bug, why don't you just cell the game company and have it fixed!" shack//al_buster//ares.4_memory//203//shack // Al buster Area.4 Memory “OF course, Il tell them, But I still have to finish her.” “Why?” “Because I want to clear the event.” “That's crazy “Tes necessary” I insisted. “Dontt you get it, Albireo? You'e a crip if you think that wap!” Hokuto shouted. “Maybe Tam.” Lycoris spoke sofily again, “I will be deleted?" “Yes, Lyconis, Iv time’ “Why must you delete me?” “"To protect the world for great players such as Balmung and Orca who put their trust in the system, Because of them, I cannot overlook even the most trivial bugl” “Pm a bug?” “Yes. A glitch. A ghost in the machine.” ‘Tm a failure” “Not for long.” Her loose dress fluttered in a slow motion, The clock tsked sofy in the background. Tick-tock,tik-ook, He time was up. I hit the debug command. -hack//al_buster//area.4.memory//204// “No!” Hokuto screamed. “Don't!” Hokuto’s shout was drowned out in the blinding white flash, aS Everything went blank, The church, the streaming sunlight, even Hokuto disappeared. They were gone, Something was wrong. Normally, after a bug is deleted, there's a white flash and then nothing The AI disappears and everything continues as normal, This was definitely not normal. In front of me was Lycoris, impaled on the end of my spear, Surrounding us, suspended in midair, were the four clocks, pendulums swinging. Tick-tock, tick-tock, For a moment, [ thought the program had frozen, but that wasnt it. The clocks still moved. Did Lycoris somehow do this? If so, why hadn't she escaped? She had the ability to teleport just as I dic. Only system administrators can teleport in the game, but I never shack//el_buster//eres.4_memory//208//tused the ability myself since I needed to maintain ta illusion of being jase another player. 1 Sucldenly Lycoris hands grabbed the shaft of the speat “Albieo” “Whack you doing?” She drove ie deeper into her body. I expected to heat che sound of it slicing through het, bue it didn’t make any noise whatsoever, Instead, the white background suddenly came to life asa grainy image filled my vision. I was clearly watching a video feed of some sort. The quality was degenerated and_ the color blurred. This wasnt from the game. ‘A man’s gaunt face was suddenly stating at me. Despite the washed-out colors, I could make out his piercing greem eyes and his unkempt, wavy white hair that had been left to grow wildly “Why did you come here?” the man asked. The sound crackled horribly. Even the text window was blurry and hare to read. “You cannot become Aura.” Gly “es not who you were designed ro become.” Shiv -hack//al_buster//erea.4.memory//208//Shack VAlbuste\\__ Area.4 Memory “Tm sorry, Lycoris. You are a failure?” I realized 1 was witnessing the image from Lycoris’ POV, She was replaying a file from her stored memory, She slowly looked up. From the eross-vaalted ceiling, T could tell she was in the church. The man disappeared from view but then reappeared, his image inverted, I realized that_ previously she was looking at his image as it was reflected on the floor, just as T had spotted her the fits time she escaped ie. He was floating in the ait. “The ghost of the church,’ I muttered under my breath, 4 “She is the child not yet seen,” the man lamented “That's why I will name her Aura, Without you, this child would not have been in existence. Aura, the child who shines like the light. Let us entrust our will to her. Let us ents cour future €0 her. She is ou—” “Tama failure?” “You are a produce of a failed actempt at realizing dream. I'm sorry it had to end this way, Lycoris.” The image ended abruptly. The screen returned to white, empty, sterile background. -hack//al_buster//area.4.memory//208// Thad just seen the infamous ghost of the church, I checked the log. The last entry read: Albires: The shost of the church. Te was the last thing I uttered. The dialogue between Lycoris and the ghost wasnt recorded. Lycoris held Wotan’ spear in both of her hands and drove the blade further into her body. “Albiteo," Lycoris whispered. “What did you just show me?” “ts something I saw here in the church just before yout came to delete me.” “That was recorded three days ago?” She ignored my question, “How did you know to find me in the church?” “We had a bug report from a playex” “Buc there weren't any players in the area at the time.” “No, there werent” “How did you know where to find me in the dungeon the second time?” -hack//al_buster//area.4_memory//208//shack // Al buster “Same thing. Another reported glitch” “Who made the report?” “A player!” “Who?” “Tewas sent anonymously.” Reports are received through an official web page that records the URL address of the sender so we can track each claim. Irs meant to discour: bogus reports. In other words, there's no such thing as an anonymous tip. Yet both times we received reports on Lycoris, they came in without any address ot link, When’ the programmers finally tracked down their origin, they discovered that the messages had come from a discontinue account that had not been logged into for over six months, ‘Yee both reports had been filed in the past few days. “Are you a Cobalt Knight?” “Yes” “What's the name of your speas, Albireo?” Lyeo asked “Tes the Divine Spear of Wotan.” “es a spear of God.” “Thae's right!” -hack//el_buster//arse.4.memory//210// Area.4 Memory “Who gave it to you?” I wondered if this conversation could be heard by Hokuto? Were we in Party Mode, Whisper Mode, or was our conversation being broadcast to every online player? Did i even matter? Perhaps we were in some state of limbo? Gould Hokuto even see me? Where was she right now? Wy" “T want to know how it wor “Someone programmed the debug function back in the beta version.” “You mean Eragment2” “Yes! “But who provided it?” “dont know?” “Suddenly the debug function was just added to che specs because you were a system administrator” “Yes.” “Buc you don't know who did it, do you?” “No, I don't.” “That's because programs are often being added or deleted without anyone realizing it” shack//al_buster//eree.4_memory//211//shack // Al buster Area.4 Memory ‘That vias confidential. How did she know that? "Do you also know about the folder?” I asked, “Polder?” “The blackbor foldex” I shouldn't have been talking about this, I didn’t know if anyone else was listening. T could be breaking operational rules, but to hell with i This was my frst chance co possibly learn something Td been wondering for years, something no one else seemed to know. “Tn the system?” “Yes, [donttknow anyone who can open it. Management told us that che American programmers had placed it there but we should ignore ic and localize according eo spec. Later Tearned from the US. staf¥ that they hada placed it there, either, Only one man knew the contents of the folder and! he locked them up. He said it would prevent anyone from tampeting with the system, but by keeping it locked, he kept the other programmers from changing The World. Sure, we could add events, areas, and NPCs, but the hard-core rales. of the game were locked inside that folder, sealed away without any access” chack//al_buster//erea.4_memory//212// “Who was that man?” “Harald Hoerwick. That's why che folder is called the Harald Syscem.” “Tknow that name. It's the same man in the church,” “You mean the ghost?”” “Yes, But I call him Morgana Mode Gone.’ “Whav” “That's the name of God, Albiteo. Tes whac lurks in the Inner World, which Harald attempted to create, God exists, It is what gave you the Divine Spear of Wotan and sent you the message telling you where I was, God tried to delete me.” “God ... tried to delete you?” “That's sight. Iam an unwanted child. Even God doesn't wane me.” “I dont understand. What's Morgana?” “was fleeing from Morgana. Morgana told you where T was hiding. Morgana wanted you to delete me,” “I thought God wanted to delete you?” “Morgana Mode Gone is God.” “So you weren't hiding from me, but from Morgana?” shack//el_buster//area.4_memory//213//ehack // Al buster “Yes” “Bue didn’t you just say Morgana sent me to delete | fes. You tried twice, but both times you failed.” time, bue there’ no way I missed you this last time, Youtte impossible to delete, So you never had to fear me or che Cobalt Knights.” “Thats not true. You do have the power to delete me, Albireo. The power rests in your hands, Ie rests in your Spear.” Suddenly, I received a text message indicating that I had, anew item, “ve revised the data of your spear," she continued, “You have the final segment, the final piece of me.” T had hie hee with delete the first time and she segmented. Had she placed a segment of herself wichin my spear? “"You have received etaf.cyl" the text message read. Fate. She had given me her fate. shack//al_buster//area.4_memory//214// "Youle right. I thought you somehow eseaped the first Area.4 Memory “T have given you my will to relinguish me,” Lycoris said. “I wanted to continue to live in this world, bue..” she trailed off. “But I cannot become Aura” “Who is Aura?” “You will delete me.” “Tno longer have to delete you.” “Then Morgana will delete me.” “Why?” “Because if an Al exists in this world and accumulates data, ie will hasten the birth of Aura.” “Morgana does not wish for Aura’ birth?” “No” “But didnt Morgana give birth to you in the first place? Isnt chat where you came from? The blackbox folder?” “Morgana is contradicting herself” “A program that contradicts cannot function,” I pointed out. “An extremely complicated system can function even with contradictions. And jts results are contrary to expectations,” “Bue char! that’s no different from human beings.” -hack//al_buster//erea.4_memory//215//Shack /Albuster\\_ “Yes.” This was too much, “L will self preserve,” she continued, “Is that your goal?” T asked. “Ts that why you divided: yourself into segments? To survive Morgana? But then why did you use me to collect your fragments?” 4 “I nceded to be whole, That is the goal of any intelligent being, I only wanted your help. I needed help since I had no memoty. That's why I created an event, €o get someone to help me. After all, my aim is to interact with The World and grow with ie” “As a character?” “Yes, But as long as I exist, Morgana will continue to whisper my location until the Cobale Knights find and delete me, But that's over now. Ive given up.” 1 She sounded depressed. Could an AT have such complicated emotions? 4 “But why?” “Lam the product of a failed attempt, I must dic. [have failed co achieve his dream, Therefore, it’s time I finished?” “This isn right!” shack//el_buster//aree.4.memory//216// “Weve come a long way together, Albireo, But I'm affaid this is the end of your event with me.” Everything went white and she was gone. “Subject deleted” appeared on my screen. I hadnt activated the switch, She had done it herself, Lycoris had taken her own life. For a moment, I heard the gentle ticking of the pendulums as they hung suspended in the infinite universe. Their ticking was the last ching I heard as T was surrounded by a ring of light and teleported away. Tick-tock, tick-tock. shack//al_buster//eree.4.memory//217//Tremoved my FMD and looked at the clock. It was still pretty early. Not much time had passed since I started. Absentmindedly, I zoned out, reflecting on what had) just happened, My reverie was interrupted by a knock. 1 turned my monitor to sleep mode and called, “Come in’ Ic was the new kid, the one whose name I could never remember, “Good morning, Watarail” “Morning” “Did you hear? The One Sin has been cleared!” “T know!” “You do?” He looked disappointed. He was hoping to surprise me with the news.Area.* shack // Al buster “Two swordsmen named Orca and Balmung cleared it this morning." I informed him, “Jeez, how'd you know that?” “That's my job. T'm guessing the MVP is Balmung.” “Yeah! You should sce his prize! Oh, but you probably already know that, too.” “Actually, I don't, What is it?” “He gets an extremely rare character upgrade that he can’ do almost anything he wants with, He can even have wings!” “The wings of a captive angel?” I mused. “Hub?” “Never mind” “Do you know that the area of The One Sin is completely..." “... changed. I know. After the event was cleared, it was ‘orally rewritten, The only snowstorm in The World is gone!" You‘ realy on top of this” He was easly impressed. “Again, my job? That's why [had my own office. "Did you see the message on the official BBS?” “What message?” He finaly surprised me. “es by chat web poet we were talking about yesterday.” ‘Ashe handed me a piece of paper, the grin on his face betrayed his pleasure of finally knowing something I didn‘ Subject: The One Sin Message by: W. B. Yates Damage done 1 the evil shaped oe, foo massive to compare Balinung of Azure Sky, Orca of the Azure Sea, segetr thy gallop at full sped In the depth of my bosom, your names shall remain. Yeu are none other then the descendants of Fianna. Tegther withthe wrior soho wears the ees of tbe stars, W.B. Yates “When was this posted?” I asked. sheck//al_buster//erea.*//223//shack // Al buster Area.* “A few minutes ago. I saw it when I logged in ae my desk” “But che details of the event havertt been posted yet. The only way Yates could know all this would be if Yates had witnessed the event.” “T guess that means Yates was there,” the kid pointed. out, Hokuto? It had to be, W. B, Yates was really Hokuto. Or whatever her name was in real life. The kid continued, “To know when to show up and see such an awesome event would mean they’ really on top of theit game, Just like you. I guess this Yates person is a really great player.” "Yeah, it would certainly seem that way.” I leaned back in my chair, “I heard this Yates sometimes intentionally logs in as a new character just to role-play at a low level! “Why would they do tha?” “To fool those who encounter him, Or her” “You think Yates isa gic?” “You never know, kid. You never know.” snack//al_puster//erea.*//224// “Watarai, where do you get such information?” “When you learn how to extract information yourself, then maybe you'l be sitting on the other side of this desk. Until then, you'll just have to keep guessing. But it helps to keep your eyes and ears open” “But how did you know The One Sin was going to be rewritten after the event was cleared?” “I didatt know” “What?” “But you know all those phonebook-sized system-spec books that they prepare for us?” Veg" “ye probably read twenty volumes of those books since I started here back in the beta version and The World is still full of things I dor‘e know. The World is too humongous. Tt changes too fast. Its content is so voluminous that today’s information is outdated tomorrow: You could spend your entire life studying the game and never fully grasp it, because it’s too unpredictable. The bottom line is, nobody has a fall grasp of The World, not the system administrators, nor the programmers. The only sheck//el_buster//erea.*//225//ehack // Al buster Area.* one who could possibly know everything going on inside The World is...” “Yes?” He was wide-eyed with anticipation. "God." “Uh huh?" He was less than enthusiastic about my answer “Only God could be omniscient enough to understand and even interact with everything in the system.” “God?” “Ae least what [ call God. Even though no individual can ever grasp the system as a whole, it’ still programmed for anyone to look at any of its pieces, The entire World exists in binary code and is stored in Akashic records, The World that we witness is displayed on a screen, Ie not reality, Wete witnessing the illusion of realty, what the Hindus call maya. Ies really just a shadow world. Bue the system itself is alive and constantly operating every moment of every day. I call that system God.” The kid looked confused. I'm not so sure I understood ic myself “Forget it. Was there anything else?” I asked. shack//el_buster//erea.*//228// “Br, well, chere is one thing...” “What is i?” I asked, “L received a call from the administrator in charge of the rown invasion that took place last night, the one with the demon, He was rather upset” “T chink I can guess why?” “He wanted to know why the MVP was another system administrator.” “You mean he wanted to know why Twas the one who defeated his big bad monster” “Yeah, something like that” “Tell him Till report everything directly to upper ‘management, Ies none of his concern.” “Yes, si, One more thing. .! “Yes” “Lknow ies not my place, but, well... you donit look too well, Are you feeling okay?” “'m just tted. T haven't had much sleep the past three days.” Come to think of it, I cane remember the last time I looked in a mirror. I'm sure I must've been an unshaven, sunken-eyed wreck, shack//sl_buster//ares.*//227//shack // Al buster \ \ “*You might wane to take a couple days off. I bet they’d give it to you, since they know how dedicated you are,” I wonder if he meant because I was a crip. “Youle right. I think the Cobalt Knights can go a day without me. Il take your advice, kid. Thanks.” “Sure thing” He smiled. I did’ want to tell him I had planned on taking the day off anyway. The kid turned and shut the door behind him as he left. Thita key, taking the monitor off sleep mode. I could see a grassy field, I put the FMD back on, Everything came into focus. I could see a bright blue sky. The air seemed crisp and cleat, with a hine of aucun, A gentle wind swept the ocean of grass in fluttering waves, ‘There was a break in the green field where a patch of crimson flowers bloomed. It cook me a moment to recognize what kind they were. They were lycorises. “Is this your answes, Lycoris2” I wondered aloud. I tried to target the red flowers, but they were patt of the background, I couldnt help but think back to the time when I worked on the localization process and translated English chack//al_buster//area.*//228//ehack // Al buster ‘messages for Tokuoka, It was all such fun back then. If only Til understood The World as much as I do now. I breathed a heavy sigh and realized I needed to write an email to Orca and Balmung congratulating them on their boilliane strategy. Their victory over The One Sin deserved praise. I should also write to Hokuto, But what should I say? ‘Wohat does one tell an obnoxious web poet masquerading as a newbie? I'l chink of something. “Maybe I'll tell hee we should form a party together. T logged out. -hack//el_buster//erea.*//230// PostscripteIt was October, 2002, when I first heard ck would be an exciting multimedia project by Bandai, with character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, script by Kazunoti Ito, and Koichi Mashimo as animation dlisector, Below is the exchange between myself and the Editor-in-chief (EIC) at the time, EIC: The game will be developed for PS2. There will be anime segments and a total of four volumes. Author: What an incredible plant EIC: And, Kadokawa (the publisher) is also on board, Author: Ah, in that case, i'll be pretty troublesome. EIC: And, I want you to write the original story for the comic version, Author: Great. Can I see the game version?ehack // Al buster Postscript EIC: Is in development. It’s supposed to be released next yeat, ‘Author: What about the anime? EIC: — Right now there's nothing tangible to show yet. Author: Then how do you know what the story will be? FIC: (Laughs) Thae’s why I'm asking you! ‘Apparently, the plan was to make a graphic novel based ‘on the original game. By poring over the material I received, I tried to capture the flavor of the characters in the game, which was still being developed. The following week, during the first meeting, T was presented with what they wanted the overall direction of the TV anime to be, Since the anime was going to take place before the game, they wanted me to write a story that took place in the future. I put together a plotline for both the anime and the game. When I met with Bandai the following week, 1 was rold to set the story in the past instead of the future, Now I knew why the BIG asked me to take the job, Because I live only ewo train stops from his office! hhack/el_buster//postscript//294// Living nearby is convenient in many ways—for them. Ie easy to make me work harder! ‘Afeer many twists and turns, the concept for the comic version was settled on as a comedic love story thac takes place four years later. Meanwhile, this project had already existed for three years before I joined on. So Y'm a bit of a newbie myself The first time I met Tto was during an event in May. ‘The first time T met Mashimo was in July at an interview session for an anime magazine, Sadamoro is the only person, Thaven't met, bue I quietly worshipped him from afar during Kadokawa’s New Year's pacty. Now let's talk briefly about the novel . Thad read the scripts for Sgn, che TV anime version, so that I could reflect on them within this story. By the way, che novel takes place shortly before the TV anime version dovs. The world of back is constantly being created as each new media interacts with the other. I hope you enjoy it! Lastly, T owe a great thanks to many people, Fitst, Td like to thank Uchiyama-sama of Bandai and Matsuyama sama of CyberConnect2, who gave me great advice along, -hack//el_buster//postscripy/236//shack // Al buster \ the way, I also owe a big thanks to Kazunori Ito-sama, the script writer, who, in my opinion, is the originator of bck Next, I like to thank Rei Tzumi-sama for the wonderful illustrations. Finally, thanks to anyone and everyone involved with this project. There are still many headaches, but lees continue to do out best Thank you all very much. Tatsuya Hamazaki .nsck//al_buster//postecript//238// WIZE a SHOP reece vi HOT NEWS! ‘heck out the TOKYOPOP SHOP! The world's bast ‘ollection of mangain | English is now available online In one placel SAIYUKT RELOAD Ui ez Saou ade new racer Saale layne Iie Beenie Pan